“The Book of Tranquility” (Shunjusha Publishing Company, 2003) is Hiroshi Yoshimura’s only collection of his piano works. Originally it was written for the environmental background piano music, made at the request of a housing maker in the 1980s. There was no musical score but only a sound source at the time. In 2003, it was reprinted as a CD-BOOK, adding the composer’s autographic scores, essays and paintings. The player in the CD is Satsuki Shibano who learned Satie’s piano piece in France. It is his last work produced in his final year, which can be called ‘Comprehensive art’ unique to Yoshimura.
Yoshimura had only a synthesizer at home, but no piano. When he played the piano at his friend’s house, he felt the freshness and the reverberation of its sound fully. Listening to the sound of the piano deeply, all of the 11 songs in the collection were improvised. They include many whole notes, half notes, fermatas, etc. Also there are songs with no meter or bar line. Therefore, this collection is full of tranquility, which he explained to be ‘unique to the sound of the piano... like the long lasting after a bell rings…’.
