Japanese composer Shiro Fukai (1907-1959) writes fake Ravel, with varying degrees of success. The Four Parodies, a suite of movements evocative of Falla, Stravinsky, Ravel, and Roussel respectively, promise more than they deliver. Fukai’s intentions are just barely discernible, but he lacks the self-confidence necessary to really make them work. Still, the music as such is fun, with the most successful piece in the set being the Ravel. Création is a ballet dating from 1940 that opens in a manner very similar to Ravel’s Left Hand Concerto, while Chantes de Java takes a sidelong glance at Boléro. It’s all good fun, mitigated somewhat by surprisingly ragged performances by the Russian Philharmonic under Dmitry Yablonsky. I’d like to give this a higher rating, but the ensemble work by the strings (check out the violin in “Roussel”) is simply a mess. If you’re collecting Naxos’ very interesting Japanese music series, you will want this, but it’s not the best of the lot by any means.
