In the 1960s, the Japanese composer Toshi Ichiyanagi was an important conduit between the avant-garde music scenes in North America, Europe, and Japan. This letter to George Brecht suggests that, during a visit to New York, Brecht gave or sent Ichiyanagi several scores for presentation in Japan, and that Ichiyanagi participated in the New York scene by attending and performing in experimental concerts at Yoko Ono’s loft and at AG Gallery (a space that George Maciunas and his associate Almus Salcius opened briefly in 1961). Ichiyanagi is remarkably insightful in his observations about the paradoxically structured yet flexible and expansive nature of Brecht’s event scores, as well as in his diagnosis of the “strenuous” yet “beautiful” nature of La Monte Young’s compositions, which he experienced firsthand as a performer.
Toshi Ichiyanagi estate.
