The traditional music of Asian countries is one of the richest sources of inspiration from which composers of the present day and recent past draw to broaden and renew the vocabulary of musical language. A not inconsiderable role in this plays the spiritual background: the meditative deepening of consciousness, the search for the unchangeable in the current of constant change, the comprehension of the world as a whole have been here also aspirations and aims of all art, especially music.
The British composer John Palmer is a Japan enthusiast. From his intensive engagement with the culture and philosophy of this country have sprung, among others, the three compositions on this CD recently released by Sargasso.
Satori, from the year 1999, is a solo work for harpsichord played by Palmer himself. Only a few notes are allowed to echo and resonate until they are no longer to be heard, and beyond. Here the treatment of silence is quite different than, for example, that of John Cage. It is not about noises which are only heard in moments of quiet. The sound experience is observed through a magnifying glass: the moment in which the sound disturbs the silence, its development and the return to silence. Though this construction is typical of Eastern philosophy, Palmer does not attempt to disguise his europeanness and the sound of the harpsichord is clearly rooted in our music history.
The difference and contact points of both cultural circles are worked out by Palmer in Koan, also written in 1999, exactly with the help of instrumental colours. As a kind of counter pole (half-solistic) the japanese bamboo flute, the shakuhachi, is added to a chamber ensemble. Fascinating how woodwins, strings and even the piano take over, imitate and explore this very characteristic sound.
There is little of a contemplative atmosphere to be found here. Koan is a paced and virtuoso piece furiously played by Teruhisa Fukuda and the Contemporary Music EnsembleTokyo, ComeT, on a live recording from the ISCM 2001 World Music Days in Yokohama. Fascinating is also the familiarity of the Japanese ensemble with this music, through which an energy-packed rhythmic and tonal homogeneity is created.
Unfortunately, this is absent in the interpretation of Still by Das Neue Kammertrio. This work was commissioned by and written for this ensemble consisting of bass flute, viola and guitar. Still (2000-2001) adapts in a similar manner elements of Japanese music making, but is overall more sensitive and quieter. But the intuitive understanding of the three musicians is missing. In this recording of the world premiere, they rather seem to focus above all on the savouring of the broadly laid out instrumental palette.

Detlef Krenge, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. March 2004 (translation by Roger Barrett)