Four Paradies for Orchestra

Shiro Fukai (1907-1959) is barely known in the West. Born in the far north of Japan and in ill-health as a young man, he had the leisure to memorize scores he was able to obtain from a library. He eventually studied with the French-influenced composer Meiro Sugahara, only ten years his senior. He tended not to be particularly interested in Japanese musical influences, preferring to imitate music by Ravel and others. The 'Four Parodies for Orchestra' are imitative of the music of and dedicated to Falla, Stravinsky, Ravel and Roussel. By far the most successful is the limpid Ravel movement (No. 3) which features a very Ravelian flute solo that is reminiscent of the second movement of Ravel's G major piano concerto. 'Création' is a 1940 ballet that sounds more like Roussel. In it's three movements it supposedly limns 'The Birth of the Gods,' 'The Birth of Living Things' and 'The Birth of Humans.'