We visited Kamikochi next day, a field known for its beautiful scenery. It was unfortunately rainy, but we walked through the forest to appreciate the view of the river, mountain, pond, etc. Myojin-ike was especially beautiful and mystical. The path was pleasant to walk, well-prepared for visitors. We drove back to our home thereafter. I did not realized that the place is not so far from Toyama, our neighboring prefecture, thus from our prefecture.

I have been to Matsumoto, a city in the (almost) centre of Japan. The aim of our visit was to view a performance of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat played by three actors and an actress accompanied by some members of Saito Kinen Orchestra. I am going to interview the actress next month, so I thought it would be nice if I saw her acting on the stage before seeing her.

The way to the city was smooth. We left our home around nine o’clock in the morning and was already in the city one o’clock in the afternoon. Our first destination was Matsumoto City Museum because both of us were willing to see the objects and rooms(?) made by Yayoi Kusama, a distinguished artist for her extensive use of drops as a motif. I was impressed by the rooms designed by her. You are namely taken into another world. You had better witness it by yourself.

We tried to visit some touristic places, but have given up to do so due to heat. It was so hot. We only visited Matsumoto Castle. It was not bad, but too hot to walk around the city. We were thus retired to our room in a hotel.

After having taken some rest, we moved to the venue. The show started almost on time. What can I say about it to such a fantastic performance? It was great. For the people who will see it, I refrain from explaining the reason why it is so exciting stage. I felt just up-side-down when the performance reached its climax. Believe me.

I bought a CD which was sold cheaply as it was a second-hand item. I have a very old analog tape (!) on which I dubbed a record of Faure’s nocturnes plus some small pieces. I was so stupid that I did not write down the pianist’s name on it. I was not interested in the player to tell you the truth. Having studied the pieces for some years now, I became to be concerned with the pianist. I usually listen to the recording by Heidsieck on CD, but not all his performances appeal to me. I love some performances heard on the analog tape. It is after all my first experience with Faure.

I searched on the net for LPs to figure out who made a recording of complete nocturnes before 1980 and found only a few pianists did it. Luckily, quite a few of them provided me with samples and I identified the French pianist called Philippe Collard. I was however not 100% sure, so ordered the CD to validate my hypothesis.

It took me sometime to become confident of my guess. I played both the tape and CD on my car stereo as it was the only device that can play those media. I simultaneously played the tape and CD, memorizing the nuance, tempo, and articulation on each. I found it very difficult to identify them because the performance recorded on the tape was often disturbed by scratch noises. The sound quality itself was not so good. The performance on the CD was on the other hand was well recorded, free of noises. I was however sometimes found of the performances on the tape, which was milder and full of subtleties.

I reached to the conclusion that they recorded the same performances after half an hour, but I was embarrassed by the fact that I sometimes prefered to listening the music on the tape. The performances on the CD are probably too overt to express Faure’s music. I choose to play the music on the CD, though. CDs are much convenient and I do not have a player at home after all.

西岸駅（中能登町）にて駅舎マーケットなるものに知り合いが出品するというので出かけていった。マーケットに行くだけでは勿体ないので行き道に少し寄り道して「妙成寺」を拝観した。初めて訪れたが重要文化財が両手の指分くらいあって、見応えがあった。西岸駅は、とあるアニメでモデルとなったとのことで人気沸騰中らしく、写真撮影用に仮想の駅名が掲げられていた。出店者さんたちと談笑。帰りがけに以前、野々市にあったのがこの地に移動してきたお店（今は「遊帆」というお店）へ立ち寄りコーヒーを飲んだ。

One more test to cross-post an article to facebook from my wordpress blog.