Cocomi: Influences

“When putting this playlist together,” Japanese flute player Cocomi tells Apple Music Classical, “I focused on the strength, beauty and grace of women.” As a professional model as well as a performing musician, Cocomi knows a great deal about this—as she does the art of flute playing which she learned from Kanda Hiroaki, principal flute at the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Yet, rather than choosing examples of flute playing, Cocomi celebrates women above all, presenting several of her heroines. The legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré features in two tracks: “Jacqueline du Pré is one of my favourite cellists,” enthuses Cocomi. “Her playing has a uniquely feminine grace, yet conveys a profound inner strength, which is why I love her music so much.” Another inspiring female performer is the French singer Sabine Devieilhe: “She was the soprano who first made me fall in love with Poulenc. Her rendition of ‘Les chemins de l’amour’ inspired me so much that I structured my first album, de l’amour, around it.” Naturally there are women composers, including Cécile Chaminade, whose beguiling “Le lisonjera” (“The Flatterer”) is performed on Cocomi’s playist by Joanne Polk. Lili Boulanger appears in two pieces—the enchanting “Nocturne”, performed by violinist Janine Jansen, and “D’un vieux jardin” played by pianist Eric Le Sage. But as if to demonstrate that the feminine spirit is not restricted to women, we also have Beethoven’s tenderly expressive Romance in F major for violin and orchestra, and a specific extract from Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme that is a particular favourite of Cocomi’s: “This piece, to me, best evokes a deep sense of tenderness and sweetness—like imagining the woman you love.”