Minami SAEKI / Wakana IKEDA / Yoko IKEDA / Taku SUGIMOTO / Stefan THUT / Manfred WERDER
“Sextet”

While touring Europe in autumn 2017, Minami Saeki (voice), Wakana Ikeda (flute), Yoko Ikeda (viola), and Taku Sugimoto (guitar) visited Switzerland and joined up with Swiss composer/musicians Stefan Thut and Manfred Werder. This CD is a recording of five pieces they performed at the concert venue Theater Delly in Solothurn, Switzerland, on October 9, 2017. Thut played cello, and Werder used glockenspiel and typewriter. Each of the five musicians other than Saeki provided a composition of his or her own, and the five pieces were performed by all six. While Sugimoto’s composition is just a minute and a half long, each of the Ikedas’ respective compositions is 14 minutes, and those by Thut and Werder are over 20 minutes each. All the compositions call for effectively controlled, minimalistic playing. Maintaining a high level of concentration, the six musicians gave sensitively synchronized, truly superb ensemble performances.