Tadaaki Otaka’s Family Legacy Adds to a Fascinating Concert with YNSO; Venerable Conductor Performs Father’s Composition and Bruckner Symphony

By Yukiko Kishinami / Japan News Staff Writer

16:19 JST, June 5, 2025

Tadaaki Otaka conducted the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (YNSO) at Suntory Hall in Akasaka, Tokyo, on May 27, in a subscription concert with an intriguing program featuring a rarely performed gem by his father, composer-conductor Hisatada Otaka (1911-51), as well as Anton Bruckner’s magnificent Symphony No. 9.

Otaka, now the honorary guest conductor of the YNSO, served as the orchestra’s principal conductor from 1992 to 1998. The internationally famous 77-year-old maestro is particularly loved in Britain, where he was the principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 1987 to 1995; he is now its conductor laureate.

He kicked off the concert by conducting, for the first time, his father’s composition “Eine symphonische Phantasie ‘Steppe’” (“the steppe: a symphonic fantasy”).

The elder Otaka studied music in Vienna and became one of the most sought-after composer-conductors in Japan in the 1930s.

He completed “Steppe” in June 1943, and it was first performed for the radio in May 1944, followed by a performance at Hibiya Kokaido hall in Tokyo three days later.

The word “Steppe” in the title refers to the vast grassland of Mongolia. The elder Otaka tried to mix East Asian sounds with Western music by using pentatonic melodies and subtly nuanced harmonies somewhat reminiscent of Impressionist music.

Indeed, it is a fascinating little piece full of lyricism and orchestral magic.

According to the concert’s program, he made notes on the music at the beginning of the original copy of the score, which can be summarized as follows: The great wilderness sings the song of eternity in serenity even though the times change, then a huge cloud of dust paints the sky a yellow brown, a reminder of nomadic people making great migrations before becoming a major military force. Before long, they disappear in the distance, and the grassland regains its eternal serenity.

The symphonic poem develops more or less in accordance with this text. The music solemnly starts with the cellos playing a low C. The strings gently portray the grassland at peace, before being joined by the woodwinds, then the brass section, adding motion. After several transitions into more lively sections, including a march-like movement, the music repeats the first section and ends in tranquility.

The orchestration of the piece, which features solo parts by many instruments, is proof that the composer was a gifted colorist of orchestral sounds.

The fact that it was composed at a time when World War II was raging, and that Mongolia was the scene of some of the fighting, spurs the listener to imagine the composer’s fascination with the impressive landscape of this distant, exotic, independent grassland.

The elder Otaka conducted Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 two months before his premature death at the age of 39, when Tadaaki, his second son, was only 3 years old. Thus there is a family connection between the two works in the program, which with Otaka Jr.’s conducting made for an artistically rewarding concert.

From several different versions of the symphony, Otaka Jr. chose the Cohrs edition, by German conductor-musicologist Benjamin Gunner Cohrs, published in 2000. This time, Otaka opted not to conduct the fourth movement, which was left unfinished when Bruckner died in 1896.

The YNSO responded well to the slightly built conductor’s direction. He elicited from them sounds that were powerful but carefully controlled to keep them from becoming bombastic.

The first movement was full of dynamism and a fine balance of orchestral sounds. The oboe solo in the middle section was beautiful. The rapid and rhythmical second movement scherzo was particularly exciting. And the third movement adagio, which is Bruckner’s musical statement of faith in God and music, was sensibly handled by Otaka.

The audience loved the performance and refused to stop applauding, even though Otaka let the musicians leave the stage after just one encore. The humble and popular conductor finally returned to stage, all smiles, and took a deep bow.