Takashi Yoshimatsu: Memo Flora Op.67 (1998)

This is a perfect piano concerto for the month of August. Takashi Yoshimatsu is not the most well known composer, which is all the more reason to popularise his music. Memo Flora is about plants, and is in three parts:

1. Flower (Allegro)
2. Petals (Andante)
3. Bloom (Rondo in 4/8 and 5/8).

Overall, Memo Flora is poised, intricate, but demonstrates a strength in resilience which is typical of the vegetative soul. It contains art, optimism and tragedy in every bar. It is quite possible however, that Yoshimatsu could do with a botany lesson because the progression flower > petals > bloom is not quite developmentally correct, or even indicates the full range of plant life. Imagine what a masterpiece we would have if he had decided to write a concerto on seeds > saplings > flower > fruition > death and rebirth. Of course, it is easy to criticise from the sidelines whilst the master creates, so instead I will leave you to the music to fold it into your own fertile imaginings and enjoyment.

The artwork is by Yuka Taguchi (b.1992) and is called Pandora (2014), of which she says: "F200 ink, pigment and gold on Japanese paper. I drew a world like the paradise before Pandora of Greek mythology opened the jar. Redon drew several paintings on the subject of Pandora, and I was so moved by them that I wanted to draw one myself someday."