Friday, February 15, 2008; C02

Takagi Masakatsu makes ambient music, but too often it's less Brian Eno, more John Tesh. He also makes video presentations that look more Windows Media Player than Brian Eno.

Masakatsu brought his flowery sound and vision to the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage on Wednesday as part of the "Japan! Culture and Hyperculture" festival, subduing the crowd with a multimedia presentation that was as lovely as it was empty.

Frequently accompanied by two female vocalists and a synth player, Masakatsu stuck to the piano, where he could display his classical-lite technique. Masakatsu's preferred methods included holding the piano's sustain pedal while trilling the keys . . . and that's pretty much it. Sometimes he would plink a single dry note, sometimes he would touch a triad and let it ring, but mostly he moved up and down the keyboard while the sweet overlapping tones filled the air like sonic cotton candy.

This sort of melody therapy, mixed with the melting-color visuals, might work in a spa, but in the Kennedy Center's cavernous main hall, the delicate effects were dampened by shouting tourists and clanging traffic from the numerous other events happening in the building.

As the multimedia artist glided through 12 songs in the Millennium Stage's allotted 60 minutes, it was easy to envision fans of Enya and the "Titantic" soundtrack falling for Masakatsu's sugar. Brian Eno fans, however, likely thought it a little saccharine.

-- Christopher Porter