Three wooden mallets held in each hand don't seem as if they hold much power, but in the hands of Keiko Abe, they are both magical and mesmerizing. At barely 150cm, Abe is diminutive, but her size strikingly contrasts with her giant talent: an authoritative and artistic command of the marimba.
To the marimba what Issac Stern is to the violin, Abe is credited with various contributions to marimba music over the last five decades. Besides releasing more than 20 recordings, Abe serves as professor of marimba at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, gives master classes at leading music conservatories around the world, and maintains a rigorous schedule of composing and touring.
To the delight of classical music enthusiasts, Abe's tour brings her to the National Concert Hall tonight for a one-time-only engagement, joined by the National Symphony Orchestra. On the program are: Hadyn's Symphony No. 103, Abe's own Prism Rhapsody, and Bartok's Music for Strings, Orchestra, Percussion and Celesta.
The marimba, a percussion instrument made up of a graduated set of wooden bars and resonators, was an obscure instrument half a century ago, but Abe contributed in no small way to the dramatic increase in its popularity. Transcending differences between musical styles and musical time periods, she blends ideas from Japanese and western cultures -- both classical and contemporary -- to compose her works. She concentrates on "...the unique possibilities of the marimba that other instruments don't have," she said.
Abe's contributions to the development of the marimba aren't limited solely to her numerous compositions and commissions. Her work as a design consultant to marimba manufacturers has enhanced the quality of both the instruments and the mallets.
The first woman inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame, Abe is still recognized as one of the world's foremost musicians. After picking up her first set of mallets at age 12, she played as an orchestra percussionist and released over a dozen CDs of her takes on music composed by other artists. Unsatisfied with the repertoire, Abe began composing works of her own.
"What I wanted to do was to confront the marimba directly, and give a convincing performance on the instrument in a solo capacity, not using it as a single voice in the percussion ensemble, but rather in the manner of a piano," she said.
Tonight's concert will bring together Abe and NSO conductor Chien Wen-Pin (
"I believe the marimba is an instrument which, unhampered by tradition, is replete with as yet unforeseen musical possibilities," she said.
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