Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, Le Cygne, Caprice No.24 for Guitar Solo

1. Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 (Franz Liszt)
2. Le Cygne (Camille Saint-Saëns)
3. Caprice No.24 (Niccolò Paganini)

Arranged for Guitar by Kazuhito YAMASHITA

●Works
Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 ／ Franz Liszt:
Premiered on October 27, 1982 in recital at NBC Video Hall, Nagasaki. The work has since been performed in various recitals including Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and the Netherlands. Recorded in March 1983 at Irima Shimin Kaikan. Released in the album‘Hungarian Rhapsody: Virtuoso Guitar’on June 21 1983 by RVC (RVC: RCL-8370)

Le Cygne ／ Camille Saint-Saëns:
Premiered on October 27, 1982 in recital at NBC Video Hall, Nagasaki, and performed widely since. Released in the same album as‘Hungarian Rhapsody No.2’.

Caprice No.24 ／ Niccolò Paganini
Released in the same album as‘Hungarian Rhapsody No.2’.

English Translation. Yuki Osa

●Kazuhito Yamashita
Born in Nagasaki in 1961, Kazuhito Yamashita began studying the guitar at age 8 and under the continuing supervision of his father Toru and alsothe composer Kojiro Kobune.
He won the Tokyo International Guitar Competition (1976) at the age of 15 years and consecutively won historic laurels as the youngest winner, at16, in the world’s top competitions (1977), the Ramirez Guitar Concours (Spain), the Alessandria Guitar Competition (Italy), the Paris InternationalGuitar Competition.
He has released 78 titles, CD and LP. In 1980, Yamashita launched, to critical acclaim and worldwide sales, his landmark arrangement of 'Pictures atan Exhibition'. This was rapidly followed a several orchestral pieces arranged for the guitar and attracting considerable attention, such as 'Firebird'and 'Scheherazade' and, more recently, the 'New World Symphony' (Symphony No.9 from the New World). In addition, he released an acclaimedcollection of guitar pieces including 5 CDs of the J.S Bach sonatas and partitas for violin, cello, lute and flute (BWV 995-1013), transcribed for theguitar by himself, as well as essential works for the guitar such as 16 CDs of the complete Fernando Sor and works by H. Villa-Lobos: 5 Preludes and12 Etudes as well as M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco's '24 Caprichos de Goya'.
His worldwide appearances include recitals at the Vienna Musikverein ‘Great Hall’ and New York’s Lincoln Center. He has collaborated under sucheminent conductors such as Leonard Slatkin and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and with numerous performers such as jazz guitarist Larry Coryell,James Galway (flute), Gary Karr (double bass) and the Tokyo String Quartet. From 2004, there were new directions with his children, in the‘Yamashita Family Guitar Quartet/Quintet,’ and duos, performed worldwide, with his daughters Koyumi and Kanahi.
Yamashita is an enthusiastic proponent of new works for the guitar and has given the world premier of over 60 new compositions from both Japanand overseas. In 1999, he received the National Arts Festival Grand Prize from the Japanese Government's Agency for Cultural Affairs for his CDrecording of Japanese Guitar Music 1923-1948.

English Translation. John C. Maher


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