by Stephanie Manning
This article was originally published on Cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – If you know the name Joe Hisaishi, it’s likely thanks to Studio Ghibli. Since the 1980s, the Japanese composer has scored many of the animation studio’s most iconic films, including the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” and the beloved “Howl’s Moving Castle.”
When not writing for the screen, Hisaishi composes contemporary classical music. His distinctly minimalist style sets these works apart from his more tuneful film scores.
On Thursday evening, Sept. 4, he brought examples of both to Severance Music Center for “Hisaishi Conducts Hisaishi,” a program featuring The Cleveland Orchestra and viola soloist Antoine Tamestit in an exploratory journey of texture, tone and rhythm.
The large instrumentation of Symphony No. 3, “Metaphysica” nods to Gustav Mahler, one of Hisaishi’s inspirations. But the musical engine here is more minimalist than Mahlerian. In the first and third movements, snare drum and drum set keep steady time while repeated motifs snake through different sections of the orchestra, growing denser until the tension breaks and the cycle begins again.
The middle movement, “where are we going?,” offers a reflective respite with legato strings and subdued celesta chimes.
After intermission came Viola Saga, which Hisaishi described in the program notes: “The rhythm is quite complex, and playing it is not straightforward.” That proved to be an understatement — the piece is extremely challenging. While the orchestra and conductor eventually found their groove during the symphony, this work left them on less solid ground.
Tamestit, who recorded Viola Saga with Hisaishi and the Vienna Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon, clearly knows the piece well. But after the mournful opening cadenza, coordination proved difficult. Tamestit often pushed the music forward while Hisaishi and the orchestra held steady.
Still, flashes of brilliance emerged toward the end of the second movement. Tamestit found an engaging duet partner in concertmaster Amy Lee, whose part intertwined with his for an intriguing echo effect. The violist capped his performance with an encore: the Prelude from J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1.
The moment for film music arrived at the end of the evening with the U.S. premiere of the suite from The Boy and the Heron, which Hisaishi conducted from the piano. One of his more minimalist film scores, it felt like a natural outgrowth of the two earlier pieces.
A reverent stillness descended over the hall for the haunting “Ask Me Why” and “A Song of Prayer,” as attention zeroed in on the echoing notes of Hisaishi’s piano. Lightness and humor followed in the whimsical “Warawara,” where brass players buzzed on their mouthpieces to imitate the squawks of the film’s blob-like creatures.
Joyful cheers erupted at the first notes of the full orchestral encore, “Merry-Go-Round of Life” from Howl’s Moving Castle — a whirling waltz that sent the audience out in high spirits.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com September 10, 2025
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