Takashi Asahina was a Japanese conductor. He founded the Kansai Symphonic Orchestra (today the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra) in 1947 and remained its chief conductor until his death in Kobe. Inspired by a meeting with Wilhelm Furtwängler in the 1950s, he began a lifelong attachment to the music of Anton Bruckner, recording the complete Bruckner symphonies several times. Presented here, the Fourth Symphony 'Romantic', have been recorded shortly before his death.

Asahina Takashi (朝比奈 隆) was a Japanese conductor. He founded the Kansai Symphonic Orchestra (today the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra) in 1947 and remained its chief conductor until his death in Kobe. For some, Takashi Asahina was "the Karajan of Japan"; for others, his eminence was derived at least in part from his being the oldest conductor on the international scene; for others yet, he was quite simply an excellent musician, with a special sympathy for the classics of the Austro-German repertoire.