Volume 3 of this admired series reveals the expressive nature of both the guitar and the harmonica in works several of which embrace the principles of Ma, an everyday Japanese word indicating time and space. Takemitsu’s contemporary arrangements of popular songs, combining virtuosity and, in the words of the composer, ‘flexible spirituality’, are of extraordinary originality whilst melodic inventiveness is the hallmark of Hikaru Hayashi’s varied pieces. There are also examples from film scores and unusual sound explorations as in Yoshimatsu’s intensely evocative and masterful Forgetful Angel II.