世界に報じられた音楽評論家吉田秀和氏の死去

有名な音楽評論家で，文化勲章受賞者であった吉田秀和氏が，５月２２日火曜日に亡くなられたことが報じられました．

東京大学で仏文学を専攻されたほか，ドイツ語，英語にも堪能で，多くのオリジナルな文献を美しい日本語文体で紹介されたほか，それらをご自分で消化されて，何冊もの西欧音楽作曲家の音楽解説を出版され，わが国におけるクラシック音楽や西洋芸術の理解深化に計り知れないほど大きな貢献をされた方です．

私の座右の書に，「私の好きな音楽」という吉田さんの文庫本がありますが，その深い理解と分かりやすい解説，そして，その一貫した美しい文体にも心を惹かれます．

鎌倉に住まわれながら，茨城県水戸市に，素晴らしい水戸芸術館の創設段階から関わられ，その幅広い芸術文化再生，創造の礎および道筋を築かれた若々しい創造力には，本当に頭が下がります．
コンサートホールから切り離して，ロビーに設置されたパイプオルガンの着想も素晴らしいモノだったと思います．

大震災で生じた一部破損からの復元を見届けられたことがせめてもの幸いでした．
私が最後にお見受けし，ご挨拶したのは，もう２～３年以上前だったでしょうか，オペラシティの駐車場に娘さんと向かわれる途中でした．ピンとした長身が忘れられません．

心からのご冥福を祈りたいと思います．

以下に，KYODO　が世界に配信した記事と，吉田秀和さんの名をアメリカにも知らしめた，有名なピアニスト　Horowitz の来日公演についての吉田さんの酷評，をNew York Times が報じていた一文を引用しておきます．

先取りしておきますと；
''A cracked antique,'' the dean of Japanese music critics, Hidekazu Yoshida, wrote in the newspaper Asahi Shimbun. ''I could find only a fragment of the legendary Horowitz,'' he said.

 

 

Classical music critic Hidekazu Yoshida dies at 98

Hidekazu Yoshida (Mainichi)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Hidekazu Yoshida, a noted classical music critic, died of acute heart failure Tuesday at his home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, his family said Sunday. He was 98.

Graduating from Tokyo Imperial University, the forerunner of the University of Tokyo, with a degree in French literature, Yoshida started his career as a music critic in 1946 when he published a series of articles on Mozart in a music magazine. He was noted for his elegant and lucid writing style covering various fields of music.

His interests spread across the arts and he also published critical essays on fine art and film.

In 1975, he was awarded the Osaragi Jiro literary prize for his Yoshida Hidekazu zenshu (collected works of Hidekazu Yoshida). In 1988, he became director of the Mito Art Tower, an arts facility in Ibaraki Prefecture, and was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese government.

Yoshida was in the vanguard of music criticism in Japan and, in 2006, became the first recipient of the Order of Culture award, one of the Japan's most prestigious honors in art.

He is also known for his association with noted Japanese poet Chuya Nakahara, who tutored him in French.

Well versed in French, German and English, Yoshida also published many books in translation.

 

HOROWITZ TRIES AGAIN FOR TOUGH TOKYO CRITICS

By CLYDE HABERMAN, Special to the New York Times

Published: June 23, 1986　TOKYO, June 22—

Three years ago, when Vladimir Horowitz last appeared here, his audiences seemed to adore him, cheering with an abandon that was most un-Japanese. Then came the reviews. They were merciless. ''Miserable,'' said Hisatsugu Shimizu, an editor of a prominent music magazine.

''A cracked antique,'' the dean of Japanese music critics, Hidekazu Yoshida, wrote in the newspaper Asahi Shimbun. ''I could find only a fragment of the legendary Horowitz,'' he said.