fujimi rabu

[insaneneko]

Hi, my name is Tounoin Kei and I am normally a hot-shit too sexy for my baton young genius conductor. I look like this because I've been in the depths of deep regret at causing the love of my life much distress by my rash actions...


Oh, how I adore the Fujimi Orchestra series by Akizuki Koh. There are the awful anime I had the misfortune of watching and the drama CDs I've never heard, but I've basically been totally in love with the novels for over a year now. ^_^ I was ecstatic when I heard that they were making a manga for the series ten-year anniversary. I eagerly ordered it and when it came it was as good as I had hoped. It's done by the new illustrator whom I've only slowly gotten used to, but there are some great moments drawn wonderfully. XD

The series is, for those unfamiliar with this wonderful series, about the conductor Tounoin Kei and violinist Morimura Yuki. There is a good introduction to the series at Aestheticism. I don't want to explain as much as fangirl over the manga. ^_^



The lovely unshaven Kei is of course just in a terrible state since his beloved had just almost gone Ophelia on him after the rape (the bout of hysterics is actually referred to as "the Ophelia incident" in the official guide!). I love Yuki's reaction:

Kei: ...Yu...
Kei: Yu...ki...?
*glares*
Yuki: Don't call me Yuki, you rapist.
Kei: Aah

Yes, he's happy because he's discovered that Yuki hadn't gone off the deep end after his trauma.





Yuki had laughed hysterically, then simply dropped to sleep like a stone leaving the worried Kei. I love the picture of Yuki like gumby in Kei's arms.





The final pic I bothered to scan was Yuki being so upset at Kei when he first came and swept the orchestra he had worked so hard keeping together off its feet, he plays harshly. Kei reprimands, saying "Softly!" Yuki continues to saw on his voilin, thinking 'Shut up, you idiot!'



The rape in the beginning is very off-putting, but it takes a long time for Kei to get to Yuki to trust and care for him while they continue their relationship as conductor and concertmaster. In any case, the series continues on with the growth of Yuki and Kei as people and as musicians, of them as a couple and of the orchestra they both love. It's over twenty books now and going strong. Of course, my fangirling can't just stop at the manga. I have to add an excerpt from the novels as well.

I love the narration when he plays his best. The last piece is a violin concerto by Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer. Yuki is from rural Niigata prefecture, a very very snowy place (yukiguni--snow country). When he plays it he imagines the harsh, bitter beauty of a landscape draped in snow, and tries to convey it to his listeners (please forgive the awkward translation, it was done in a fit of fangirling a year ago to a friend):

The intro was a violin pianissimo separated into four tones.
I began to play in a mezzo-forte with the joy of looking over a silent field of pure white snow and carving the first footstep into it.
For me, "Mahoroba" was a tool to play sound, the same as the bow, but because of the "Mahoroba" in my hands, I could bring forth the sound that I pictured in my head into reality.
The "sound" that enters the ears of the people listening and perhaps reverberates in their hearts is spun by the instrument that is the violin.
But, I was the one that made it.
I conveyed the music that was in me to the outside through the tool that is the violin. I am the one that have people hear it.
There had to be an indivisible relationship between myself and the violin, not about possessing or not possessing, there had to be a complete unification where the violin was a part of me and I too was an essential element of the violin...
If I was to make music with just myself, I could only hit my hands or sing or whistle.
But when I held the musical instrument that is the violin, the octaves I could sing became four chords, and I could use harmony. The possibilities of expression widened a hundred-fold, a thousand-fold.
And with that power I held, I revealed what was in me to the outside.
How is it...I can see it, the beauty and the dreadfulness of the snow that blows violently, is it being conveyed to you even a little? Can you imagine the yearning for the forest that had welcomed spring, that the severity of the frozen landscape makes you dream of?
And, even while drinking in the dark cold winter, the flame of love that burns hotly in the heart of a young man, the distant path and the cold that froze his breath, did not cool his passion.
Perhaps it was the palpitation of the heart that the Sibelius of his youth had experienced....wasn't the drama depicted at the end of this work like a scene from a movie that aroused the infinite imagination?
Come now, you continue the story after this!
Racing up the last szorzando, and running through the fortissimo with all of my might---
It ended.
I removed the bow, and lowered the violin.

"Mahoroba" is the name of the violin he is using. There was this whole bit where he had to figure out what a violin was to him, and how to draw out the best "sound" from the instrument before he could play this piece. After the competition, in which he placed third, an interesting bit of discussion ensued. Someone talked about musical prodigies that placed first in international competitions, then were almost never heard of again. Because they hadn't played their sound. They had been taught to play someone else's, perhaps their teachers, sound. And the implication was that Yuki could possibly last in the business because he was allowed to find this own sound inside of him. It had been a very tortuous process, but it bore fruit in the end. ^_^

I adore this concerto and personally own three versions (and plan on getting more). My favorite has to be the one by Jascha Heifetz and the Chicago Symphony Ochestra conducted by Walter Hendle. Words can't express how much I adore Heifetz. He is known for precision and amazing technique but for being "cold." I have to disagree. I find his playing passionate, and find his Sibelius full of a delicate and subtle fire (I could fangirl over him too, but I'll restrain myself in this post). When I first heard this, I could imagine the snowy fields described in the novel...

Violin Concerto, Op. 47

Allegro moderato
Adagio di molto
Allegro, ma non tanto

For some reason when I test downloaded them, only the first portion of the file name was saved. Just add the ".mp3" extension and they should work fine.