Miharu Koshi (Haruomi Hosono) -- Figlio Perduto

By Dick Thomas Johnson via Wikimedia Commons

Recently, I came across a series of YouTube videos from the channel "remain" which has provided recognizable songs with titles that are unknown to a lot of people. The second entry in the first of these videos is a good example. Until a week ago, I hadn't known the title "O Fortuna" by Carl Orff but this 1936 song is something that I have heard often enough to depict some massively epic scenes in movies, TV and commercials. I'd even thought that "O Fortuna" had been the song to accompany the trailer for the original "Cliffhanger" with Sly Stallone back in 1993 but I was totally wrong.

Just a few minutes ago, I finally found out the title for this other classical music piece that I've heard many times in my life. This happens to be "Allegretto", the 2nd movement of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7 in A Major Op. 92" from the early 1800s, and perhaps not surprisingly, I've heard this being performed as background music in certain pensive scenes in movies. Apparently, a version with lyrics by Chiara Ferraù was made under the title "Figlio Perduto".

Now, one might ask why I am talking about classical music here since I'm not a classical music fan per se. Well, as I've indicated above, I may not be a fan but I have heard my fair share of the genre over the years through public media and the rare concert I've attended. Also, I was informed by an anonymous commenter last night and I'd actually read a "New York Times" article back on Sunday regarding Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）latest album "Yours Sincerely" that was released a mere few days ago. 

According to a review of "Yours Sincerely" on Pitchfork, it seems as if Hosono in his old age has decided to tie up some loose ends in some of his music over the decades, and the products of his tightening up (inside joke here) make up the tracks. Going back to that Beethoven movement, one of those tracks is Hosono's rendition of "Figlio Perduto" which is supposed to be based on Sarah Brightman's approach to the song back in the year 2000. As well, according to the notes underneath the YouTube video, additional lyricists were Hosono himself and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 

The "Figlio Perduto" here is ancient, intimate and perhaps even tearjerking as if only a very few of us were invited to a tiny salon in Hosono's house thanks to the reassuring plucking of the guitar and the haunting and halting delivery of the lyrics by frequent Hosono collaborator Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）and someone named KuKuKu. But no matter the dramatic change in arrangement, I could instantly recognize the tune and it finally inspired me to find out how it's been identified.