For those unaware, Satoko Fujii’s new string ensemble, GEN, makes a stunning debut on her latest album, Altitude 1100 Meters (out January 24th, 2025).

For the first time in a recording career spanning nearly 30 years, pianist-composer Satako Fujii has written music for a string ensemble.

The group, GEN, which means simply string in Japanese, makes its debut here on this debut album (out via Libra Records) and is a dramatic departure for Fujii, an artist already notable for her stylistic range and depth.

The sonorities and textures of violin, viola, and bass, create a new soundscape for Fujii to explore and the music is rich with excitement as she and the group make new musical discoveries.

For some reason I can’t explain, the sound of strings touches my heart deeply, it activates a part of my brain in a very that’s totally different from other instruments, Fujii says.

1. Morning Haze
2. Morning Sun
3. Early Afternoon
4. Light Rain
5. Twilight

Celebrating her 65th birthday with her first compositions for strings, this wonderfully impassioned new recording opens on the lushly sculpted Morning Haze and then we get the striking soundscape of Morning Sun, and they are then in turn followed by the creatively immersive strains felt within Early Afternoon, then we are brought forth the all-encompassing Light Rain, the new set coming to a close on the confluence of sounds found thriving within Twilight

Line-up/Musicians:
Yuriko Mukoujima, Ayako Kato - violin
Atsuko Hatano - viola and electronics
Hiroshi Yoshino - bass
Akira Horikoshi - drums

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