Celebrated Japanese Composer Joe Hisaishi Releases ‘A Symphonic Celebration’
Hisaishi is celebrated for his work with Oscar-winning director and Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki.
Deutsche Grammophon has announced the signing of an exclusive agreement with Joe Hisaishi, the revered Japanese composer whose work has become synonymous with the magical Studio Ghibli animations of director Hayao Miyazaki.
Spanning the full spectrum of Hisaishi’s work as composer, conductor, and pianist, the deal will deliver a richly varied range of audio and audiovisual recordings.
For his first DG album, he has created an exciting series of symphonic arrangements of his original soundtracks for such Ghibli classics as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My neighbor Totoro. Fittingly titled A Symphonic Celebration, it presents state-of-the-art recordings of his extraordinary work for this much-loved artistic force in animated movie-making. A Symphonic Celebration is out now via Deutsche Grammophon and is available on CD, Standard LP, Clear LP, Sky Blue LP, and Picture disc
“I love the fact that Deutsche Grammophon pays special attention to both creativity and sound quality,” says Joe Hisaishi. “Working with its team of dedicated professionals to conjure new symphonic worlds for classical music-lovers will be a joy.”
Hisaishi ranks among Japan’s greatest composers of all time and is celebrated worldwide for his collaborative work with Oscar-winning director and Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki. Their creative partnership began in 1984 with the post-apocalyptic anime feature Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and has since developed to the point that they are now likened to other legendary director-composer pairings, including Hitchcock and Herrmann, Fellini and Rota, Leone and Morricone, and Spielberg and Williams.
Indeed, Hisaishi’s reputation has been secured by the fact that his soundtracks have won eight Japanese Academy Awards, an unprecedented achievement. He is equally acknowledged, however, as a conductor and as a composer of contemporary classical music, much of it minimalistic and experimental in nature, like that of friends and colleagues such as Philip Glass, Terry Riley and Nico Muhly.
