Oshogatsu (New Year)
by Rentarō Taki · arranged by pfkaori
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1901
- Publisher
- Self-published digital edition for cello and piano, arranged by pfkaori (Hal Leonard ArrangeMe, pfkaorimusic), G major; also sold in F major
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About this piece
Rentarō Taki died at 23, two years after the Ministry of Education sent him to the Leipzig Conservatory, where he fell ill with tuberculosis within two months [1]. Japan's National Diet Library calls him the first Japanese composer to bring Western techniques into his music [2]. Oshogatsu, to words by Kume Higashi, appeared in the 1901 collection Yōchien Shōka (Kindergarten Songs) and is still widely sung at New Year [1][3]. pfkaori's arrangement gives the cello the whole song after four bars of rest, and the tune uses only G, A, B, D and E, so in first position the left hand needs nothing but open strings, first finger and fourth finger [4].
Technical overview
G major, common time, Andante, 16 bars of melody with a repeat, on the D and A strings in first position. Quarter notes, half notes and even runs of repeated eighth notes, all separate bows, with first and fourth fingers on both strings. One crescendo to mf and a diminuendo back to mp.
Technical focus
- A String Notes
- Collaboration with Piano
- D String Notes
- Detaché
- Dynamics
- Hairpin Dynamics
- String Crossings