Description
Takehisa Kosugi (1938–2018), founder of Group Ongaku and Taj Mahal Travellers and later music director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, with the sound artist Akio Suzuki. New Sense of Hearing (1980) by Takehisa Kosugi and Akio Suzuki is a landmark recording of Japanese experimental music and free improvisation. Recorded live at Tokyo’s Aeolian Hall on April 2, 1979, the album brings together Kosugi’s violin, voice, and radio transmitter with Suzuki’s inventive, handmade instruments, including the glass harmonica, Analapos, and spring gong. Across two extended improvisations, delicate violin passages, resonant metallic sounds, unexpected percussive gestures, and echoing vocal textures interact with the acoustics of the empty hall. Blurring the boundaries between music, sound art, and performance, the recording captures the duo’s pioneering exploration of sound, space, and spontaneous expression.