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"I can't express what a pleasure it is to see Yashiro get the best possible treatment, as he does here. Pianist Hiromi Okada marries cut-glass precision to pyrotechnic dazzle, and the Ulster Orchestra under Takuo Yuasa plays with inspired abandon… To top everything off there's Naxos's ultra-vivid, high-impact sound, with Okada's piano captured in holographic immediacy and brilliance, the woodwinds wafting across the soundstage on plush cushions of air, the sonorous brass choirs intoning with bronze solemnity or snarling with bite, and those furious, thundering timpani pounding out of the speakers like maddened Cyclops. Fantastic music, wonderful playing, stunning sonics." - American Record Guide “Takuo Yuasa leads the Ulster Orchestra in exciting, flamboyant, very well recorded performances of both works, reminding us that in the arts what matters is not so much who does something first, but who does it best. Yashiro was, without question, one of the best.” - ClassicsToday.com After graduating from the Tokyo Academy of Music in 1951, Japanese composer Akio Yashiro studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Olivier Messiaen, a composer whose influence is apparent in the two orchestral works presented on this album. Featuring the melodically adventurous Piano Concerto and beautifully wrought Symphony, Takuo Yuasa leads the Ulster Orchestra with pianist Hiromi Okado in energetic performances of these thoroughly enjoyable pieces.