YASUAKI SHIMIZU

The saxophone on this recording was created by the Saxophonettes project specially for the soundtrack of this movie. Selmer-made mouthpieces and pipes were remodeled and then reassembled, creating an instrument that can play five-part chords or five different melodies at the same time. With six pipes for each part, when all five parts are being played, thirty pipes are producing sound. Of course, the pitch of each pipe can be fine-tuned and transposed—second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on, degrees—so I can play music rich in harmonic variation. This comes through particularly well on the “Shadow of China” theme song. At present, however, this saxophone still has a number of flaws, the biggest one being that it takes so much physical strength to play. (Though perhaps this problem could be overcome if I went to a tropical island and got my body in shape.) The other drawback is that the only piece it can play is “Shadow of China”, the solution for which we are presently researching. In any case, I dedicate this soundtrack to Mr. Yanagimachi, who hummed the melody through its long recording.
(from the Shadow of China recording notes; whether the saxophone actually exists or is simply the author’s pipe dream is a question he declines to answer. – ed.)