Listened to Japan Ground Self Defense Force 70th Anniversary the 163rd Regular Concert at Suntory Hall.
It was a 70-minute concert without an intermission due to the current social situation. However, the repertoire is quite ambitious; two pieces of world premieres and a transcription of a symphony. High VIII “Chikyo Tenrai” by Akira Nishimura held much appeal of the large-sized band.
An extremely good performance of the clarinet section attracted me in Symphony No.3 “Organ” by Saint-Saëns. Probably, one of the reasons was that the score was a transcription by Mark Hindsley.The band size was a “wind ensemble”, namely each part has a single player, but, the band had 12 B♭ clarinet players. I suppose only the JGSDF Central Band has such a large clarinet section in the proportion, in Japan.
