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Like another pioneer, Wendy Carlos (she's a real genius)., most of Tomita's early albums were renditions of classical music in the electronica style. Nonetheless, KOSMOS is a great mix of different composers for a solid exposure to Tomita's music, and even decades after its initial release, continues to hold up well. Arguably, Tomita's version of Holst's "The Planets" is a superior album, and I've come to prefer it to the classical renditions of the suite.
The Star Wars piece is fun, almost deliberately silly. The other tracks are by turns grand, thoughtful, pensive, and reworked into something new. Through all the albums I've heard by Isao Tomita, he infuses the original composition often with a distinctive style, often very traditionally Japanese in the way the musical phrase is rendered.
Tomita's version of Rodrigo's "Aranjuez" has a haunting quality and has been a favorite of mine for many years. If you like this one, I'd also recommend Tomita's version of "The Planets" and "The Bermuda Triangle" -- the later which includes some of Tomita's own pieces. Included is "The Sea Named Solaris" - which was inspired by the Tarkovsky film, which in turn was based on the Stanislaw Lem story.
And anyone who's seen a circus will recognize "Hora Staccatto" and see how he's rendered the tune in his own style.
Although Kosmos (1978) opens on a humorous note with the Stars War theme (which includes a snippet of what sounds like two robots humming in a call and answer fashion and then laughing because one of them messes the answer up), this is a pretty dark album overall. I think that what I appreciate the most about the compositions on Kosmos is that while they deviate quite a ways from the original work, they are engaging, humorous at times, and fairly involved for electronica - Isao is very good at incorporating dynamics and squeezing a large number of tone colors out of his synthesizers.
All in all, this is a fine album of progressive electronic music. In this respect I would class him with other great progressive electronic composers like Larry Fast (Synergy) and Vangelis.
This is yet another great album by Isao Tomita that presents his interpretations and adaptations of famous works by Grieg, Charles Ives, and J.S. There are some sweeping and haunting moments on the album and creepy, mechanical atmospherics that renders Kosmos my favorite album by Isao Tomita.
Kosmos is very highly recommended along with Snowflakes are Falling (1974) and The Tomita Planets (1976). Bach (amongst others) played entirely on synthesizers.
The eight tracks on the album range in length from 3:28 to the lengthy closing track The Sea Named "Solaris" (12:26).
This is the one CD of his that lends itself to creating images in one's mind. "The Sea of Solaris," its just powerful piece with excellent organ sounds and unconventional percusion, yet the melodies start quiet and build up in intensity. The remastering is good, orchestral sounds great and the other, "more electronic sounds," fit in well. If you're just browsing for something new, the price makes this a good buy. It is also produced in surround sound. Kosmos if my favorite Tomita work. If you are into classical or electronic music, I feel you'll flip. From the bouncy and faniful, "Star Wars" to the stark,"Spacefantasy" and the sublime, "Aranjuez," with its quiet and melodious qualities.
The final Bach medley "The Sea Named Solaris" is Tomita's finest hour, and this album is a must for any fan or Tomita's work, or of electronic music. His sound became larger, more ambient, and denser. A flawed but still great work. If one can get past the laughably bad Star Wars opening track, this album is a stunner. Though lacking the fluid continuity of his previous efforts, Tomita manages to select darker, more beautiful, and more moody pieces than before, creating an incredible dream-like atmosphere without resorting to the usual space-ship and "alien" sounds that tarnished The Planets and The Bermuda Triangle.
And The Thunderstorm is exhilarating and even a little frightening, especially when turned up Loud. And it's fun too. The sounds Tomita used in creating this album are his most sophisticated and fascinating yet, as innovative and high quality as Pictures At An Exhibition or more. Space Fantasy- R. Tomita's interpretation of the mystery and solitude of The Unanswered Question is far better than any orchestral performance of it.
Bach: Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring. The most important parts are clean. Turn off the lights, put the phone on silent, turn the volume way up, and sit down and listen. Traditional: Chinese War Lord Going Home. BUT, it is these things that make you Feel as if you are At the Live Concert, and this is a huge Plus. But I will just say that the orchestrations and performances of the music itself all fit together masterfully to tell a story that is part thrilling science fiction and part impressionistic dream. Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue.
Plus, there are only two Daphnis and Chloes that I like better than this one. SNOWFLAKES ARE DANCING 1974 (11 Debussy pieces)Some say Snowflakes is Tomita's best CD. It would easily fit on a CD with Canon of The Three Stars.CANON OF THE THREE STARS or DAWN CHORUS 1984 (Pachelbel: Canon. It contains some of the most beautiful and unique performances ever put on a disk. This album also has an extended version of Cranes In Their Nest, a very good performance by Goro Yamaguchi, on the Shakuhachi.Of the two concert CDs, this one has more awe-inspiring moments, and more depth.
IN CONCLUSIONOther reviewers on Amazon have done a more eloquent job than I of describing Tomita's amazing musical style, but I have enjoyed creating this guide. The same violinist does an outstanding job on Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. Several of the tracks are most enjoyable. You can actually hear the fairies in the Fairy Garden (they sound like hummingbirds). Mahler: Symphony 3 in D Minor - 5th Movement. The Bermuda Triangle is much better than Kosmos. CD releases stopped with Kosmos. So much depth and feeling, it is hard to describe how lovely it is.
My subwoofer liked it too. So here is my list, improved and updated for accuracy (August 2009). THE GRAND CANYON 1982 (Grofe) (Bonus track: Syncopated Clock by Leroy Anderson)Most music critics would say that this performance of The Grand Canyon Suite is not as good as a symphony orchestra's. Pacific 231 is exciting and fun, a quality piece. (Part of The Sea Named Solaris is mixed different). On this album: Star Wars is cute.
For this album Tomita created some of the most unusual, high quality electronic sounds ever heard. In Tomita's music I have found serene beauty, relaxation, landscapes of wonder, mysterious spaces, thrilling excitement, inspiration, and some fun. Really listen. Hora Staccato is lots of fun. The Snowflakes album is very enjoyable.
I love the range of musical styles in the Mother Goose Suite. Tomita's Painted Desert gives a feeling of flying low over vast mysterious, enchanted, moonlit sands. Tomita fans and collectors should enjoy most of this CD.THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE 1979 - A Musical Fantasy of Science Fiction (Sibelius: Valse Triste. Then he used these sounds very effectively in good orchestrations. Inexplicably, the U.S. This CD features some new sounds and musical styles for Tomita Classical, a really wide variety of them.
Also, during The Conversation from Close Encounters and the first couple minutes of Ode To Joy you can hear the helicopter that was holding up a huge speaker during the show. LIVE IN NEW YORK 1988 - BACK TO THE EARTH(Live concert with live soloists. Dinicu-Heifetz: Hora Staccato. The Infernal Dance of King Kastchei is exciting, scary, and LOUD - much more so than any performance by any orchestra.
Albinoni: Adagio. Debussy: Prelude To The Afternoon of A Faun. I love the range of styles in this album, the relaxing beauty, the depth of colors. LIVE AT LINZ, AUSTRIA 1985 - THE MIND OF THE UNIVERSE(Live concert with huge speakers on both sides of the Danube River and live soloists. I hope you enjoyed it too. Fisher-Dvorak: Goin' Home).The Live In NY music is less demanding than Live At Linz, which makes it more suited for playing in the background.
I think it is in his top three. He creates his music with more depth, color, imagery, feeling, and thought than any other synthesized music I have ever heard. Thank you. But it is worth checking out, as parts of it are far more colorful, magical, and entertaining than any symphony orchestra version I have ever heard.
It is almost as good as the Live At Linz concert (above). The quality of the recording is bright, full, deep, clear, and clean. But it has fake reverb all the way through, and is not as bright and clear as the other Tomita CDs. This is the part of The Bermuda Triangle near the end that gets so exciting, and with the live violinist and Tomita's magical orchestral creations, it is truly one of the most thrilling musical experiences I have ever enjoyed. Includes 7 pieces from previous albums- some with new arrangements and live soloists. I especially like the second half- the really good Prokofiev stuff. 4 pieces from Villa Lobos: Bachianis Brasileiras 2, 4, and 7).Sweet is the word I would use to describe pretty much this whole album.
I listened on my pretty good car stereo system last night turned up very LOUD. There is reverb at times, but it is natural, bouncing off things in the area. On The Trail is a lot of fun, although not as good as orchestra performances. You can actually Hear the Lightning, Feel the Thunder, and then See a Rainbow at the end. I also love the Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde-Liebestod (which first appeared on this album). This is the shortest Tomita album.
Rodrigo: Aranjuez. Williams: Close Encounters. Actually hearing a helicopter on a CD may seem silly. The live violin solo (Mariko Senju) of the Lark Ascending is by far the most captivating, lovely, and perfect I have ever heard; the best performance of The Lark Ascending that I know of. The listening is as enjoyable as it is bizarre; quite an accomplishment in itself. Some tracks are even cute, although at least one is solemn and another poignant.
Imagine Lord of The Rings before CGI. Vaughn Williams: The Lark Ascending. It is also the longest Tomita album ever made, which is perfect, since it is so enjoyable.Note on sound quality: I appreciate good sound quality. And the Pavane is very nice. The Round of the Princesses is beautiful. )FIREBIRD 1976 (Stravinsky: Firebird Suite. Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Scythian Suite, Symphonies 5 and 6, Violin Concerto 1).After nearly 30 years of listening to The Bermuda Triangle off and on, I have decided that it is my all time favorite record album, CD, concept album, and my all time favorite synthesized music.
The quality of this album is not nearly as great as Snowflakes, Pictures, The Bermuda Triangle, or the Ravel Album. You can almost see the mechanical motions flying through space after the train leaves the tracks. This Tomita CD has found its way into my top 5. Rachmaninoff: Vocalise. This is one Tomita album that is far better than any symphony orchestra performance could every be. The newly remastered High Performance CD is audiophile quality and adds Prelude To The Afternoon of a Faun also by Debussy.
Plus, Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring. The Space Fantasy is pretty good. Another reviewer is absolutely right. Ives: Unanswered Question.
The Finale is so awesome; Tomita played it at the end of his live concerts.THE PLANETS 1976 (Holst)This one album is a completely different mood for Tomita. The big box set of all 11 CDs has finally been released. Bach-Tomita: The Sea Named Solaris).This is a science fiction album without a theme, really. PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION 1975 (Mussorgsky) Also in the top 3. It is as if Holst was so far ahead of his time, that he composed The Planets for Tomita.
These last two CDs are my all time favorite live concert albums.BACH FANTASY 199610 separate Bach pieces, which include two tracks from previous albums. Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde-Liebestod. Beethoven: Ode To Joy with full Choir and soloists).In my opinion, this is in Tomita's top five best albums. Not the best, but worth having. And Carl Sagan used the amazing Sea Named Solaris in his "Cosmos." The Sea Named Solaris is one of the greatest works of music every performed by anyone.
Considering that a number of Tomita CDs are over $30, and all the CDs in the box have been remastered, it is almost a bargain. Honnegar: Pacific 231. This is a perfect finale for the entire Tomita Classical Line. (Unlike other synthesized music, I have never gotten a headache listening to this or any other Tomita recording. I could type two pages on The Bermuda Triangle, and you can find many pages on various websites. As a person who started collecting Tomita and lots of other electronic music when I was 19 in 1979, plus the original symphony orchestra versions of the classical music that Tomita used, I hope you consider me qualified to create the following list of Tomita albums and review them as well.Note on the 1991 Surround Sound CDs (Snowflakes to Kosmos): Tomita originally mixed his albums for special Quadraphonic LPs and tapes, but for some reason, the rear channel sounds almost completely disappear, no matter what stereo equipment a person listens on. This CD does have imperfect moments, but over all it is very good.
KOSMOS or COSMOS 1978 (Star Wars Title. Grieg: Solveig's Song. Japanese Traditional: Cranes In Their Nest. It almost seems that Tomita did this one in his sleep, but some tracks are very good, and since all the tracks are individual pieces it would be worth owning as a reference CD. One of the few CDs I have that I like to hear again and again. Mussorgsky: Night On Bare Mountain).Firebird is one of Tomita's best CDs. Includes 7 pieces from previous albums- some with new arrangements and live soloists.
Plus Dukas: Fanfare. It could have been mixed better, but it is very hard for a huge concert like this to be recorded perfectly. The popular Toccata and Fugue is a very good, virtuoso straight performance on very cool Synth Organ. Only Tomita could do that. Not even when playing his music loud, which I love to do.
The whole experience is extraordinary. A rare, expensive CD, that is not included in the big new Box Set. Not even close. 1: Moderato; Allegro Moderato. I am so grateful the album is on CD.BOLERO or DAPHNIS AND CHLOE 1980 (Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe, Pavane for A Dead Princess, Bolero, Mother Goose Suite).This is a very good album with the best performance of The Mother Goose Suite that I have heard, by far.
Strauss: Thus Spake Zarathustra, Wagner: Ride of The Valkyries and Tannhauser Overture. Because The Bermuda Triangle is an Experience; A Phenomenal, Powerful, Enlightening, Enjoyable Experience.
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