It is time once again to look back over some of the most significant events of the previous year, 1999.
I reviewed 108 concerts during the last 12 months, more performances than the typical music lover attends in one year. Still it is simply not possible to hear more than a few of the 4,000 or so performances of symphonic music offered every year in the capital region.
My initial list included all those which struck me as being particularly memorable -- 22 serious contenders. The makeup of this list has changed during the past decade in an important way, a testimony to Japan's musical maturity: Virtually all the best performances 10 years ago were given by foreign artists and ensembles visiting from abroad. Now this is no longer true.