For a while moonlight Night over flowers, by Matsuo Bashō, was chosen by Masako Ohta as the motto for her album »My Music Garden.«

Masako Ohta opens »My Music Garden« with »In a landscape« by John Cage and transitions to »Clair de lune« by Claude Debussy with Johannes Brahms‘ Intermezzo Op. 118-2. Pattern B »Yabe« from Patterns of Plants by Japanese composer Mamoru Fujieda is also part of her newly developed repertoire, as are Fumio Yasuda‘s »Rain Forest« and »Souvenir from Japan, Sakura for Piano« by Toshio Hosokawa. Ohta combines classical music by Schubert, Mozart, Chopin, and Zimmermann with contemporary Japanese compositions to create a poetic work of fine and delicate sounds.


“I want to create a unique music garden that extends into infinite time. With great respect for nature, I want to build a garden of time that is full of secrets and metaphors.” 
— Toru Takemitsu

“This thought by Toru Takemitsu has been with me for quite some time and has inspired me to develop programs that are like a garden in the air. Every year and every season that I have performed this program, my music garden has shown different facets and brought forth different works.
In 2025, I found myself in a serious crisis. I felt powerless and depressed, as if I were sinking into the ground. To escape the crisis, I retreated to an enclave at the end of February, a secluded forest house in the Bavarian Forest, far away from the hustle and bustle and stress of everyday life, to let the silence and nature accompany me. I left the world around me behind and was able to find myself in music. My musical garden changed and transformed, and new worlds of sound emerged. For me, it was like a journey of discovery into myself and, at the same time, like a rebirth. This is how this album, »My Music Garden,« came about.
The pieces of music I recorded on a Bechstein concert grand piano at the Waldhaus are like sound waves that envelop me like warm humus. I have known some of these compositions for a long time, while others I have only recently rediscovered. For example, Schubert‘s »Impromptu, No. 3 in G-flat major«: suddenly I realized that the middle voices flow and foam like water... perhaps Schubert improvised this lively pulsation at the time? Mozart‘s »Fantasy in D minor« reminded me of a quote by the Japanese philosopher Hideo Kobayashi: »Mozart‘s sadness runs.«
I am very grateful for these new encounters and for the opportunity to awaken. Although I often play Takemitsu‘s music and feel very connected to him, this time I did not record his composition as originally planned. However, his compositions can be heard on my solo albums »Poetry Album« and »My Japanese Heart« [both released by Winter & Winter]. But the spirit of this album is inspired by Takemitsu, even if his work is not directly included this time. Welcome to »My Music Garden«!"
— Masako Ohta

Masako Ohta, born in Tokyo, pianist, sound performer, and composer, is at home in the fields of classical and contemporary music, improvisation, and film music. In 2018/2019, she was awarded the Förderpreis Musik of the state capital Munich. 
She studied piano in Tokyo and Berlin and attended master classes with András Schiff, György Sebök, and György Kurtág. Masako Ohta lives in Munich and performs worldwide, where she frequently collaborates with actors, dancers, poets, and visual artists.