© 2006 Lawrence Tuczynski

ALL scans and info on this page courtesy of Jurgen Himmelmann

Title NHK EPIC DRAMA THEMES
CD Label Polydor
CD Number POCN-1123~4
Music by: Various
Number of tracks CD1 - 26
CD2 - 15
Running time CD1 - 61:25
CD2 - 52:08
Number of discs 2
Year of release/manufacture April 01, 1996

REVIEW

February 10, 2006
Courtesy of Jurgen Himmelmann

NHK EPIC DRAMA is a highly recommended DoCD with many wonderful Main Themes.

Here we can find many composers we know about: For example Isao Tomita composed "Catastrophe 1999", Yasushi Akutagawa we know from AKIRA IFUKUBE: WORKS FOR ORCHESTRA (FOCD-3245) & JAPANESE CHORUS SONG COMPOSER SERIES 3 (VICC-60043), Toru Takemitsu composed "An Ocean to Cross" and "Ran" (SLCS-5073) & (Milan 883-499), Masaru Satoh is the composer of four Godzilla scores, Shinichiro Ikebe wrote the music for "Kagemusha". Reijiro Koroku composed "Godzilla 1984", here his score "Hideyoshi" is the only one we get more than just Main Title music (CD2, track 9 -15).

Most of the themes have a powerful and epic feeling, some even use a chorus. There are only a few exceptions: Track 5 (CD2) is a pop song, one of the Isao tracks sounds like "Media Ventures" music.

This DoCD still is available at ArkSquare. An extended review you will find in the German film music Magazine "Cinema Musica" Nr. 1.

NHK EPIC DRAMA THEMES

    Disc 1
  1. ISAO TOMITA - (1963) HANA NO SHOGAI (Life of Flower) - Main Title
  2. YASUSHI AKUTAGAWA - (1964) AKOU ROUSI - Main Title
  3. IRINO YOSHIRO - (1965) TAIKOUKI - Main Title
  4. TORU TAKEMITSU - (1966) YOSHITSUNE MINAMOTONO - Main Title
  5. MASARU SATOH - (1967) THREE SISTERS (San Shimai) - Main Title
  6. MICHIO MAMIYA - (1968) RYOMA GA YUKU (Ryoma Goes) - Main Title
  7. ISAO TOMITA - (1969) TEN TO CHI TO (Heaven and Earth) - Main Title
  8. MITSUMASA YODA - (1970) KASHINOKI WA NOKOTTA (An Oak Tree Was Survived) - Main Title
  9. AKIRA MIYOSHI / MICHIO MAMIYA - (1971) HARU NO SAKAMICHI (A Spring Hill) - Main Title
  10. ISAO TOMITA - (1972) SHIN HEIKE MONOGATARI (New Tale of Heike) - Main Title
  11. HIKARU HAYASHI - (1973) KUNITORI MONOGATARI (National stealing story) - Main Title
  12. ISAO TOMITA - (1974) KATSU KAISHU (Kaishu Katsu) - Main Title
  13. JOJI YUASA - (1975) GENROKU TAIHEIKI - Main Title
  14. NAOZUMI YAMAMOTO - (1976) - KAZE TO KUMO TO NIJI TO (The Wind, The Clouds and The Rainbow) - Main Title
  15. HIKARU HAYASHI - (1977) KASHIN (Flower God) - Main Title
  16. SHINICHIRO IKEBE - (1978) OUGON NO HIBI (Days of Gold) - Main Title
  17. JOJI YUASA - (1979) KUSA MOERU (The Grass it burns) - Main Title
  18. RYUDO UZAKI - (1980) SHISHI NO JIDAI (The Age of The Lion) - Main Title
  19. KOICHI SAKATA - (1981) ONNA TAIKOKI - Main Title
  20. SHINICHIRO IKEBE - (1982) TOGE NO GUNZO (A Sculptured Group of The Mountain Pass) - Main Title
  21. ISAO TOMITA - (1983) TOKUGAWA IEYASU (Ieyasu Tokugawa) - Main Title
  22. HIKARU HAYASHI - (1984) SANGA MOYU (Nature is Burning) - Main Title
  23. MASARU SATOH - (1985) HARU NO NAMISHIBUKI (Sea Spray in Spring) - Main Title
  24. KOICHI SAKATA - (1986) INOCHI (Life) - Main Title
  25. SHINICHIRO IKEBE - (1987) ONE EYED DRAGON (Dokugan-ryu Masamune) - Main Title
  26. NAOZUMI YAMAMOTO - (1988) TAKEDA SHINGEN - Main Title
    Disc 2
  1. KOICHI SAKATA - (1989) KASUGA NO TSUBONE (A Court Lady of Kasuga) - Main Title
  2. TOSHI ICHIYANAGI - (1990) TOBUGA GOTOKU (Like Flying) - Main Title
  3. SHIGEAKI SAEGUSA - (1991) TAIHEIKI - Main Title
  4. KURODO MORI - (1992) NOBUNAGA (KING OF ZIPANGU) - Main Title
  5. SHINJI TANIMURA / JUN HASE - (1993) RYUKYU NO KAZE (DRAGON SPIRIT) - Main Title
  6. YOSHIHIRO KANNO - (1993) HOMURA TATSU - SURGING FLAME - Main Title
  7. SHIGEAKI SAEGUSA - (1994) HANANORAN (Rebellion of Flower) - Main Title
  8. SHINICHIRO IKEBE - (1995) HACHIDAI SHOGUN YOSHIMUNE (EIGHTH SHOGUN YOSHIMUNE) - Main Title
  9. REIJIRO KOROKU - (1996) HIDEYOSHI - Main Title
  10. REIJIRO KOROKU - (1996) HIDEYOSHI - Destruction Heaven
  11. REIJIRO KOROKU - (1996) HIDEYOSHI - Dreamland
  12. REIJIRO KOROKU - (1996) HIDEYOSHI - Love
  13. REIJIRO KOROKU - (1996) HIDEYOSHI - Destiny
  14. REIJIRO KOROKU - (1996) HIDEYOSHI - Wandering
  15. REIJIRO KOROKU - (1996) HIDEYOSHI - Vision