JOE HISAISHI SYMPHONIC SPECIAL 2003
Music composed and conducted by Joe Hisaishi
Piano solos by Joe Hisaishi
August 14, 2003
Tokyo Metropolitan Theater
Ikebukuro (Tokyo), Japan
PART 1: CONCERT REPORT
Joe Hisaishi’s Symphonic Special 2003 was the first film music concert I’d ever been to.
I’d just moved to a small city in Japan about two hours away from Tokyo, could barely speak or understand the language, and had very little money in the bank.
But somehow, I managed to scrape up enough cash to get a ticket to see Joe Hisaishi in concert in central Tokyo. This had been a dream of mine since I first heard his music during a TV broadcast of Hayao Miyazaki’s PORCO ROSSO in the late 90’s.
Now, despite this concert happening over 20 years ago, a few things still stick out in my memory.
For one thing, the concert program for that night was spectacular! It was filled to the brim with all my Hisaishi favorites at the time: the “orchestra stories” from MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO narrated by Hisaishi himself, and a “best of” program of his recent film music including two stunning selections from SPIRITED AWAY.
I vividly remember being blown away by the opening 12-minute suite from the film MIBUGISHIDEN (“When the Last Sword Is Drawn”), an absolute masterclass of film music covering a massive range of emotion.
This was followed by the two pieces from SPIRITED AWAY which included the wistful opening titles, “One Summer’s Day,” and the cathartic “Reprise,” with Hisaishi himself on piano with the orchestra.
We were then treated to selections from his latest album at the time, ETUDE: A WISH TO THE MOON. This is where I heard, for the very first time, the short but gorgeous piece “Yume no aozora.” This dreamy and romantic piece of music made such an impression on me that I performed it on piano almost 15 years later at my own wedding as a surprise for my wife. Needless to say, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The “orchestra stories” from MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, which were new orchestral arrangements of key themes from the film, came after the intermission. Each piece began with a few lines of narration from Hisaishi, who was basically telling the story of this delightful film while being accompanied by the orchestra playing his iconic musical themes from the film.
This would have meant much more to me at the time if my Japanese skills had been better! In any case, it was a fun part of the concert that was very well received by the audience.
When the concert ended with Hisaishi taking his final bows, I walked downstairs to leave the concert hall. As I was about to leave, I distinctly recall a small crowd of people shuffling back through the doors leading into the arena area. Intrigued, I quickly followed them and stood in the doorway to see what was going on: Hisaishi had come back on stage for one final encore!
And this wasn’t just any encore, it was my favourite Hisaishi piece, “La pioggia.” As I stood in the doorway being swept away by this beautiful piece of music, I suddenly realized two things: first, that I was so glad to have gotten a ticket to this concert despite my acute financial embarrassment at the time; and two, that I was incredibly lucky to have been sitting upstairs in the cheapest seats– otherwise, I would have left earlier and missed this encore!
Either way, this was the very beginning of my obsession with live film music concerts, and why I will ALWAYS go that extra mile to see the original composer perform or conduct their own music – there really is nothing better than seeing an artist reproduce their “art” live.
PART 2: CONCERT MERCH
I’m a bit hazy now about what merch was available that day, but I did buy the program – which is full of original photographs taken by Hisaishi himself – and a small memo pad which I have not opened to this day!
PART 3: CONCERT FLYER
Here are scans of the original concert flyer.
PART 4: OVER TO YOU
Did you also go to this concert? How did you like it?
And what did you think of my report? Feel free to comment below or reach out to me directly in the “Contact Me” section.
