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T!ru Takemitsu

T!ru Takemitsu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

T!ru Takemitsu (  Takemitsu T !ru, October 8, 1930 – February

20, 1996) was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and musicheory. Though largely self-taught, Takemitsu is recognised for his skill

n the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre, drawing

rom a wide range of influences, including jazz, popular music, avant-

garde procedures and traditional Japanese music, in a harmonic idiom

argely derived from the music of Claude Debussy and Olivier

Messiaen.[1][2]

n 1958, he received international attention for his Requiem for strings

1957) which resulted in several commissions from across the world, and

ettled his reputation as the leading Japanese composer of the 20thentury.[3]  He was the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and

honours; he composed over one hundred film scores[4][5] and about one

hundred and thirty concert works[5]  for ensembles of various sizes and

ombinations.[6] He also found time to write a detective novel and

appeared frequently on Japanese television as a celebrity chef.[7]

n the foreword to a selection of Takemitsu's writings in English, conductor Seiji Ozawa writes: "I am very

proud of my friend T!ru Takemitsu. He is the first Japanese composer to write for a world audience and

achieve international recognition."[8]

Contents

1 Biography1.1 Youth1.2 Early development and Jikken K!b!1.3 Influence of Cage; interest in traditional Japanese music1.4 International status and the gradual shift in style

1.5 Later works: the sea of tonality1.6 Legacy

2 Music2.1 Influence of Traditional Japanese Music2.2 Influence of Messiaen2.3 Influence of Debussy2.4 Motives

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2.5 Musique Concrète2.6 Aleatory Techniques2.7 Film Music

3 Awards4 Notable compositions5 Listening6 Further reading

7 Notes and references8 External links

Biography

Youth

T!ru Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the

Chinese province then known as Manchuria. He returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his

education was cut short by military conscription in 1944.[2]  Takemitsu described his experience of military

ervice at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "...extremely bitter". [9] Takemit

irst became really conscious of Western classical music (which was banned in Japan during the war) durin

his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened

with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo. [9][10]

During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for

ong period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he

ould on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he

imultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explainedmuch later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional

music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".[9]

Despite his almost complete lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music

had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "[...]I began [writing] music attracted to

music itself as one human being. Being in music I found my raison d'être as a man. After the war, music w

he only thing. Choosing to be in music clarified my identity."[11]

Though he studied briefly with Yasuji Kiyose beginning in 1948, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught

hroughout his musical career.[2]

Early development and Jikken K!b!

n 1951 Takemitsu was a founding member of the anti-academic Jikken K !b! ( "experimental

workshop"): an artistic group established for multidisciplinary collaboration on mixed-media projects, who

ought to avoid Japanese artistic tradition.[12] The performances and works undertaken by the group

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ntroduced several contemporary Western composers to Japanese audiences. [2][13] During this period he wr

Saegirarenai Ky"soku I  ("Uninterrupted Rest I", 1952: a piano work, without a regular rhythmic pulse or

barlines); and by 1955 Takemitsu had begun to use electronic tape-recording techniques in such works as

Relief Statique  (1955) and Vocalism A·I  (1956)[2] (as pioneered during this period by Pierre Schaeffer and

Karlheinz Stockhausen; see Musique concrète).

n the late 1950s chance brought Takemitsu international attention: his Requiem for string orchestra (1957

listen ) was heard by Igor Stravinsky in 1958 during his visit to Japan. (The NHK had organised

opportunities for Stravinsky to listen to some of the latest Japanese music; when Takemitsu's work was put

by mistake, Stravinsky insisted on hearing it to the end.) At a press conference later, Stravinsky expressed h

admiration for the work, praising its "sincerity" and "passionate" writing.[14] Stravinsky subsequently invite

Takemitsu to lunch; and for Takemitsu this was an "unforgettable" experience.[15] After Stravinsky returne

he U.S., Takemitsu soon received a commission for a new work from the Koussevitsky Foundation which,

assumed, had come as a suggestion from Stravinsky to Aaron Copland.[15] For this he composed Dorian

Horizon, (1966), which was premièred by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Copland.[1

Influence of Cage; interest in traditional Japanese music

During his time with Jikken K!b!, Takemitsu came into contact with the experimental work of John Cage;

when the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi returned from his studies in America in 1961, he gave the first Japane

performance of Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra. This left a "deep impression" on Takemitsu: he

ecalled the impact of hearing the work when writing an obituary for Cage, thirty-one years later.[16] This

encouraged Takemitsu in his use of indeterminate procedures and graphic-score notation, for example in the

graphic scores of Ring (1961), Corona for pianist(s) and Corona II for string(s) (both 1962). In these works

each performer is presented with cards printed with coloured circular patterns which are freely arranged by

performer to create "the score".[17]

Although the immediate influence of Cage's procedures did not last in Takemitsu's music—Coral Island , fo

example for soprano and orchestra (1962) shows significant departures from indeterminate procedures partl

as a result of Takemitsu's renewed interest in the music of Anton Webern—certain similarities between Cag

philosophies and Takemitsu's thought remained. For example, Cage's emphasis on timbres within individual

ound-events, and his notion of silence "as plenum rather than vacuum", can be aligned with Takemitsu's

nterest in ma.[18] Furthermore, Cage's interest in Zen practice (through his contact with Zen Master Daisetz

Teitaro Suzuki) seems to have resulted in a renewed interest in the East in general, and ultimately alerted

Takemitsu to the potential for incorporating elements drawn from Japanese traditional music into his

omposition:

I must express my deep and sincere gratitude to John Cage. The reason for this is that in my own

life, in my own development, for a long period I struggled to avoid being "Japanese", to avoid

"Japanese" qualities. It was largely through my contact with John Cage that I came to recognize

the value of my own tradition.[9]

For Takemitsu, as he explained later in a lecture in 1988, one performance of Japanese traditional music sto

out:

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One day I chanced to see a performance of the Bunraku puppet theater and was very surprised by

it. It was in the tone quality, the timbre, of the futazao shamisen, the wide-necked shamisen used

in Bunraku, that I first recognized the splendor of traditional Japanese music. I was very moved by

it and I wondered why my attention had never been captured before by this Japanese music.[9]

Thereafter, he resolved to study all types of traditional Japanese music, paying special attention to the

differences between the two very different musical traditions; in a diligent attempt to "bring forth theensibilities of Japanese music that had always been within [him]...". [9]  This was no easy task, since in the

years following the war traditional music was largely overlooked and ignored: only one or two "masters"

ontinued to keep their art alive, often meeting with public indifference. In conservatoria across the country

even students of traditional instruments were always required to learn the piano.[19]

From the early 1960s, Takemitsu began to make use of traditional Japanese instruments in his music, and ev

ook up playing the biwa—an instrument he used in his score for the film Seppuku (1962).[2] In 1967,

Takemitsu received a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, to commemorate the

orchestra's 125th anniversary, for which he wrote November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra.

nitially, Takemitsu had great difficulty in uniting these instruments from such different musical cultures in

one work.[9]  Eclipse for biwa and shakuhachi (1966) illustrates Takemitsu's attempts to find a viable

notational system for these instruments, which in normal circumstances neither sound together nor are used

works notated in any system of Western staff notation.[20]

The first performance of November Steps was given in 1967, under Seiji Ozawa. Despite the trials of writing

uch an ambitious work, Takemitsu maintained "that making the attempt was very worthwhile because what

esulted somehow liberated music from a certain stagnation and brought to music something distinctly new

and different".[9] The work was distributed widely in the West when it was coupled as the fourth side of an

elease of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony.

[21]

n 1972, Takemitsu, accompanied by Iannis Xenakis, Betsy Jolas, and others, heard Balinese gamelan musi

Bali. The experience influenced the composer on a largely philosophical and theological level. For those

accompanying Takemitsu on the expedition (most of whom were French musicians), who "[...] could not ke

heir composure as I did before this music: it was too foreign for them to be able to assess the resulting

discrepancies with their logic", the experience was without precedent. For Takemitsu, however, by now qui

amiliar with his own native musical tradition, there was a relationship between "the sounds of the gamelan

he tone of the kapachi, the unique scales and rhythms by which they are formed, and Japanese traditional

music which had shaped such a large part of my sensitivity".[22] In his solo piano work For Away (written

Roger Woodward in 1973), a single, complex line is distributed between the pianist's hands, which reflectsnterlocking patterns between the metallophones of a gamelan orchestra.[23]

A year later, Takemitsu returned to the instrumental combination of shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra, in the

ess well known work Autumn (1973). The significance of this work is revealed in its far greater integration

he traditional Japanese instruments into the orchestral discourse; whereas in November Steps, the two

ontrasting instrumental ensembles perform largely in alternation, with only a few moments of contact.

Takemitsu expressed this change in attitude:

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But now my attitude is getting to be a little different, I think. Now my concern is mostly to find

out what there is in common [...] Autumn was written after November Steps. I really wanted to do

something which I hadn't done in November Steps, not to blend the instruments, but to integrate

them.[24]

International status and the gradual shift in style

By 1970, Takemitsu's reputation as a leading member of avant-garde community was well established, and

during his involvement with Expo '70 in Osaka, he was at last able to meet more of his Western colleagues,

ncluding Karlheinz Stockhausen. Also, during a contemporary music festival in April 1970, produced by th

apanese composer himself ("Iron and Steel Pavilion"), Takemitsu met among the participants Lukas Foss,

Peter Sculthorpe, and Vinko Globokar. Later that year, as part of a commission from Paul Sacher and the

Zurich Collegium Musicum, Takemitsu incorporated into his Eucalyptus I  parts for international performers

lautist Aurèle Nicolet, oboist Heinz Holliger, and harpist Ursula Holliger.[25]

Critical examination of the complex instrumental works written during this period for the new generation of

contemporary soloists" reveals the level of his high-profile engagement with the Western avant-garde, inworks such as Voice for solo flute (1971), Waves for clarinet, horn, two trombones and bass drum (1976),

Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (1977). Experiments and works that incorporated

raditional Japanese musical ideas and language continued to appear in his output, and an increased interest

he traditional Japanese garden began to reflect itself in works such as In an Autumn Garden for gagaku

orchestra (1973), and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden for orchestra (1977).[26]

Throughout this apogee of avant-garde work, Takemitsu's musical style seems to have undergone a series o

tylistic changes. Comparison of Green (for orchestra, 1967) and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal

Garden (1977) quickly reveals the seeds of this change. The latter was composed according a pre-

ompositional scheme, in which pentatonic modes were superimposed over one central pentatonic scale (theo-called "black-key pentatonic") around a central sustained central pitch (F-sharp), and an approach that is

highly indicative of the sort of "pantonal" and modal pitch material seen gradually emerging in his works

hroughout the 1970s.[27] The former, Green (or November Steps II ) written ten years earlier, is heavily

nfluenced by Debussy,[28][29] and is, in spite of its very dissonant language (including momentary quarter-

one clusters), largely constructed through a complex web of modal forms. These modal forms are largely

audible, particularly in the momentary repose toward the end of the work.[30] Thus in these works, it is

possible to see both a continuity of approach, and the emergence of a simpler harmonic language that was t

haracterise the work of his later period.

His younger friend and colleague J! Kond! commented, "If his later works sound different from earlierpieces, it is due to his gradual refining of his basic style rather than any real alteration of it."[31]

Later works: the sea of tonality

n a Tokyo lecture given in 1984, Takemitsu identified a melodic motive in his Far Calls. Coming Far! (fo

violin and orchestra, 1980) that would recur throughout his later works:

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I wanted to plan a tonal "sea". Here the "sea" is E-flat [ Es in German nomenclature]-E-A, a three-

note ascending motive consisting of a half step and perfect fourth. [... In Far Calls] this is

extended upward from A with two major thirds and one minor third [...] Using these patterns I set

the "sea of tonality" from which many pantonal chords flow.[32]

Takemitsu's words here highlight his changing stylistic trends from the late 1970s into the 1980s, which hav

been described as "an increased use of diatonic material [... with] references to tertian harmony and jazz

voicing", which do not, however, project a sense of "large-scale tonality".[33] Many of the works from this

period have titles that include a reference to water: Toward the Sea (1981), Rain Tree and Rain Coming

1982), riverrun and I Hear the Water Dreaming (1987). Takemitsu wrote in his notes for the score of Rain

Coming that "[...] the complete collection [is] entitled "Waterscape" [...] it was the composer's intention to

reate a series of works, which like their subject, pass through various metamorphoses, culminating in a sea

onality."[34] Throughout these works, the S-E-A motive (discussed further below) features prominently, an

points to an increased emphasis on the melodic element in Takemitsu's music that began during this later

period.

Pedal notes played an increasingly prominent role in Takemitsu's music during this period, as in A Flock 

Descends into the Pentagonal Garden. In Dream/Window, (orchestra, 1985) a pedal D serves as anchor poin

holding together statements of a striking four-note motivic gesture which recurs in various instrumental and

hythmic guises throughout. Very occasionally, fully-fledged references to diatonic tonality can be found, o

n harmonic allusions to early- and pre-twentieth century composers—for example, Folios for guitar (1974)

which quotes from J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, and Family Tree for narrator and orchestra (1984), whi

nvokes the musical language of Ravel and American popular song.[2]

By this time, Takemitsu's incorporation of traditional Japanese (and other Eastern) musical traditions with h

Western style had become much more integrated. Takemitsu commented, "There is no doubt [...] the variou

ountries and cultures of the world have begun a journey toward the geographic and historic unity of all

peoples [...] The old and new exist within me with equal weight." [35]

Toward the end of his life, Takemitsu had planned to complete an opera, a collaboration with the novelist

Barry Gifford and the director Daniel Schmid, commissioned by the Opéra National de Lyon in France. He

was in the process of publishing a plan of its musical and dramatic structure with Kenzaburo Oe, but he wa

prevented from completing it by his death at 65.[36][37] He died of pneumonia while undergoing treatment f

bladder cancer on February 20, 1996.

Legacy

n a memorial issue of Contemporary Music Review, J! Kond! wrote, "Needless to say, Takemitsu is amon

he most important composers in Japanese music history. He was also the first Japanese composer fully

ecognized in the west, and remained the guiding light for the younger generations of Japanese composers."

Composer Peter Lieberson shared the following in his program note to the Ocean that has no East and Wes

written in memory of Takemitsu: "I spent the most time with Toru in Tokyo when I was invited to be a gue

omposer at his Music Today Festival in 1987. Peter Serkin and composer Oliver Knussen were also there,

 

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Example 1. Bar 10 of Masqu

Continu, for two flutes (1959An early example of Takemit

incorporation of traditionalJapanese music in his writin

 

was cellist Fred Sherry. Though he was the senior of our group by many years, Toru stayed up with us ever

night and literally drank us under the table. I was confirmed in my impression of Toru as a person who live

his life like a traditional Zen poet." [38]

Music

Composers whom Takemitsu cited as influential in his early work include Claude Debussy, Anton Webern,Edgard Varèse, Arnold Schoenberg, and Olivier Messiaen.[39] (Messiaen was introduced to him by fellow

omposer Toshi Ichiyanagi, and remained a lifelong influence).[2] Although Takemitsu was reluctant at firs

develop an interest in traditional Japanese music after his wartime experiences of nationalism, Takemitsu

howed an early interest in "[...] the Japanese Garden in color spacing and form [...]". The formal garden of

kaiyu-shiki interested him in particular.[9][40]

He expressed his unusual stance toward compositional theory early on, his lack of respect for the "trite rules

music, rules that are [...] stifled by formulas and calculations"; for Takemitsu it was of far greater importanc

hat "sounds have the freedom to breathe. [...] Just as one cannot plan his life, neither can he plan music".[4

Takemitsu's sensitivity to instrumental and orchestral timbre can be heard throughout his work, and is often

made apparent by the unusual instrumental combinations he specified. This is evident in works such as

November Steps, that combine traditional Japanese instruments, shakuhachi and biwa, with a conventional

Western orchestra. It may also be discerned in his works for ensembles that make no use of traditional

nstruments, for example Quotation of Dream (1991), Archipelago S., for twenty one players (1993), and A

& II  (1963–66/1976). In these works, the more conventional orchestral forces are divided into unconvention

groups". Even where these instrumental combinations were determined by the particular ensemble

ommissioning the work, "Takemitsu's genius for instrumentation (and genius it was, in my view) [...]", in t

words of Oliver Knussen, "[...] creates the illusion that the instrumental restrictions are self-imposed". [42]

Influence of Traditional Japanese Music

Takemitsu summed up his initial aversion to Japanese (and all non-

Western) traditional musical forms in his own words: "There may be folk

music with strength and beauty, but I cannot be completely honest in this

kind of music. I want a more active relationship to the present. (Folk

music in a 'contemporary style' is nothing but a deception)".[43] His dislike

or the music traditions of his own country in particular were intensified by

his experiences of the war, during which Japanese music became

associated with militaristic and nationalistic cultural ideals. [44]

Nevertheless, Takemitsu incorporated some idiomatic elements of Japanese

music in his very earliest works, perhaps unconsciously. One unpublished

et of pieces, Kakehi ("Conduit"), written at the age of 17, incorporates the

y!, ritsu and insen scales throughout. When Takemitsu discovered that

hese "nationalist" elements had somehow found their way into his music,

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 quarter-tone pitch bend abov

Example 2. Opening bars of Litany—In

 Memory of Michael Vyner, i Adagio, for solopiano (1950/1989). Another early example of 

Takemitsu's incorporation of traditionalJapanese music in his writing, shown here inthe use of the Japanese in scale in the upper

melodic line of the right hand part. ( Listen)

he was so alarmed that he later destroyed the works.[45] Further examples

an be seen for example in the quarter-tone glissandi of Masques I  (for

wo flutes, 1959), which mirror the characteristic pitch bends of the

hakuhachi, and for which he devised his own unique notation: a held note is tied to an enharmonic spelling

he same pitch class, with a portamento direction across the tie.[46]

Other Japanese characteristics, including the further use o

traditional pentatonic scales, continued to crop up elsewhe

in his early works. In the opening bars of Litany, for Mich

Vyner (first movement), a reconstruction from memory by

Takemitsu of Lento in Due Movimenti (1950; the original

score was lost), pentatonicism is clearly visible in the upp

voice, which opens the work on an unaccompanied

anacrusis.[47] The pitches of the opening melody combine

form the constituent notes of the ascending form of the

Japanese in scale.

When, from the early 1960s,[2] Takemitsu began to

"consciously apprehend" the sounds of traditional Japanes

music, he found that his creative process, "the logic of my

compositional thought[,] was torn apart", and nevertheless

"hogaku [traditional Japanese music ...] seized my heart an

refuses to release it".[48] In particular, Takemitsu perceive

that, for example, the sound of a single stroke of the biwa

ingle pitch breathed through the shakuhachi, could "so transport our reason because they are of extreme

omplexity [...] already complete in themselves". This fascination with the sounds produced in traditional

apanese music brought Takemitsu to his idea of ma (usually translated as the space between two objects),[

which ultimately informed his understanding of the intense quality of traditional Japanese music as a whole

Just one sound can be complete in itself, for its complexity lies in the formulation of ma, an

unquantifiable metaphysical space (duration) of dynamically tensed absence of sound. For

example, in the performance of n!, the ma of sound and silence does not have an organic relation

for the purpose of artistic expression. Rather, these two elements contrast sharply with one another

in an immaterial balance.[50]

n 1970, Takemitsu received a commission from the National Theatre of Japan to write a work for the gaga

ensemble of the Imperial Household; this was fulfilled in 1973, when he completed Shuteiga ("In an Autum

Garden") (although he later incorporated the work, as the fourth movement, into his 50 minute long "In an

Autumn Garden—Complete Version").[51] As well as being "[...] the furthest removed from the West of an

work he had written",[52] While it introduces certain Western musical ideas to the Japanese court ensemble,

he work represents the deepest of Takemitsu's investigations into Japanese musical tradition, the lasting eff

of which are clearly reflected in his works for conventional Western ensemble formats that followed. [53]

n Garden Rain (1974, for brass ensemble), the limited and pitch-specific

 

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Example 3. Standard chordproduced by the sh!, mouth

organ of the traditional Japancourt ensemble, gagaku.

Example 4. Comparison of ex.94 from OlivierMessiaen's Technique de mon language musical

and one of the principal motives from

Takemitsu's Quatrain  (1975).).[56]

harmonic vocabulary of the Japanese mouth organ, the sh! (see ex. 3), and

ts specific timbres, are clearly emulated in Takemitsu's writing for brass

nstruments; even similarities of performance practice can be seen, (the

players are often required to hold notes to the limit of their breath

apacity).[54] In A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, the

haracteristic timbres of the sh! and its chords (several of which are

imultaneous soundings of traditional Japanese pentatonic scales) are

emulated in the opening held chords of the wind instruments (the first

hord is in fact an exact transposition of the sh!'s chord, J" (i); see ex. 3);

meanwhile a solo oboe is assigned a melodic line that is similarly

eminiscent of the lines played by the hichiriki in gagaku ensembles.[55]

Influence of Messiaen

The influence of Olivier Messiaen on Takemitsu was

already apparent in some of Takemitsu's earliest publish

works. By the time he composed Lento in Due Movimen

(1950), Takemitsu had already come into possession of

copy of Messiaen's 8 Préludes (through Toshi Ichiyanag

and the influence of Messiaen is clearly visible in the w

in the use of modes, the suspension of regular metre, an

sensitivity to timbre.[2][57] Throughout his career

Takemitsu often made use of modes from which he deri

his musical material, both melodic and harmonic among

which Messiaen's modes of limited transposition to appe

with some frequency.[58] In particular, the use of the

octatonic, (mode II, or the 8-28 collection), and mode VI (8-25) is particularly common. However, Takemitpointed out that he had used the octatonic collection in his music before ever coming across it in Messiaen's

music.[59]

n 1977, Takemitsu met Messiaen in New York, and during "what was to be a one-hour 'lesson' [but which

asted three hours…Messiaen played his Quartet for the End of Time for Takemitsu at the piano",[60] which

Takemitsu recalled, was like listening to an orchestral performance.[61] Takemitsu responded to this with hi

homage to the French composer, Quatrain, for which he asked Messiaen's permission to use the same

nstrumental combination for the main quartet, cello, violin, clarinet and piano (which is accompanied by

orchestra).[62] As well as the obvious similarity of instrumentation, Takemitsu employs several melodic

igures that appear to "mimic" certain musical examples given by Messiaen in his Technique de mon langag

musical, (see ex. 4).[56]

On hearing of Messiaen's death in 1992, Takemitsu was interviewed by telephone, and still in shock, "blurte

out, 'His death leaves a crisis in contemporary music!' " Then later, in an obituary written for the French

omposer in the same year, Takemitsu further expressed his sense of loss at Messiaen's death: "Truly, he w

my spiritual mentor…Among the many things I learned from his music, the concept and experience of colo

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and the form of time will be unforgettable."[61] The composition Rain Tree Sketch II , which was to be

Takemitsu's final piano piece, was also written that year and subtitled "In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen".

Influence of Debussy

Takemitsu frequently expressed his indebtedness to Claude Debussy, referring to the French composer as h

great mentor".

[63]

 As Arnold Whitall puts it:

Given the enthusiasm for the exotic and the Orient in these [Debussy and Messiaen] and other

French composers, it is understandable that Takemitsu should have been attracted to the

expressive and formal qualities of music is which flexibility of rhythm and richness of harmony

count for so much."[64]

For Takemitsu, Debussy's "greatest contribution was his unique orchestration which emphasizes colour, ligh

and shadow…the orchestration of Debussy has many musical focuses." He was fully aware of Debussy's ow

nterest in Japanese art, (the cover of the first edition of La Mer, for example, was famously adorned by

Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa).[65] For Takemitsu, this interest in Japanese culture, combined w

his unique personality, and perhaps most importantly, his lineage as a composer of the French musical

radition running from Rameau and Lully through Berlioz in which colour is given special attention, gave

Debussy his unique style and sense of orchestration.[66]

During the composition of Green ( November Steps II , for orchestra, 1967: "steeped in the sound-color worl

of the orchestral music of Claude Debussy")[67] Takemitsu said he had taken the scores of Debussy's Prélu

à l'Après-midi d'un Faune and Jeux to the mountain villa where both this work and November Steps I  were

omposed. For Oliver Knussen, "the final appearance of the main theme irresistibly prompts the thought tha

Takemitsu may, quite unconsciously, have been attempting a latterday Japanese Après-midi d'un Faune".[68

Details of orchestration in Green, such as the prominent use of antique cymbals, and tremolandi harmonieshe strings, clearly point to the influence of Takemitsu's compositional mentor, and of these works in

particular.[69]

n Quotation of Dream (1991), direct quotations from Debussy's La Mer and Takemitsu's earlier works rela

o the sea are incorporated into the musical flow ("stylistic jolts were not intended"), depicting the landscape

outside the Japanese garden of his own music.[70]

Motives

Several recurring musical motives can be heard in Takemitsu's works. In particular the pitch motive E-E-an be heard in many of his later works, whose titles refer to water in some form (Toward the Sea, 1981; R

Tree Sketch, 1982; I Hear the Water Dreaming, 1987).

When spelt in German (Es-E-A), the motive can be seen

a musical "transliteration" of the word "sea". Takemitsu u

this motive (usually transposed) to indicate the presence o

water in his "musical landscapes", even in works whose ti

 

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Example 5. Various examples of Takemitsu'sS-E-A motive, derived from the German

spelling of the notes E, E, A ("Es-E-A").

do not directly refer to water, such as  A Flock Descends in

the Pentagonal Garden (1977; see ex. 5).[71]

Musique Concrète

During Takemitsu's years as a member of the Jikken K!b

he experimented with compositions of musique concrète

(and a very limited amount of electronic music, the most

notable example being Stanza II  for harp and tape written

later in 1972).[72] In Water Music (1960 listen ),

Takemitsu's source material consisted entirely of sounds

produced by droplets of water. His manipulation of these

ounds, through the use of highly percussive envelopes, often results in a resemblance to traditional Japanes

nstruments, such as the tsuzumi and n! ensembles.[73]

Aleatory Techniques

One aspect of John Cage's compositional procedure that Takemitsu continued to use throughout his career,

he use of indeterminacy, in which performers are given a degree of choice in what to perform. As mention

previously, this was particularly used in works such as November Steps, in which musicians playing traditio

apanese instruments were able to play in an orchestral setting with a certain degree of improvisational

reedom.[20] However, he also employed a technique that is sometimes called "aleatory counterpoint"[74] in

his well-known orchestral work A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden (1977) (at [J] in the score

listen ),[75] and in the score of Arc II: i Textures  (1964) for piano and orchestra, in which sections of the

orchestra are divided into groups, and required to repeat short passages of music at will. In these passages th

overall sequence of events is, however, controlled by the conductor, who is instructed about the approximate

durations for each section, and who indicates to the orchestra when to move from one section to next. Theechnique is commonly found in the work of Witold Lutos#awski, who pioneered it in his Jeux vénitiens.[74

Film Music

Takemitsu's contribution to film music was considerable; in under 40 years he composed music for over 10

ilms,[76] some of which were written for purely financial reasons (such as those written for Noboru

Nakamura). However, as the composer attained financial independence, he grew more selective, often readi

whole scripts before agreeing to compose the music, and later surveying the action on set, "breathing the

atmosphere" whilst conceiving his musical ideas.[77] One notable consideration in Takemitsu's composition

ilm was his careful use of silence (also important in many of his concert works), which often immediately

ntensifies the events on screen, and prevents any monotony through a continuous musical accompaniment.

he first battle scene of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Takemitsu provided an extended passage of intense elegiac

quality that halts at the sound of a single gun shot, leaving the audience with the pure "sounds of battle: crie

creams and neighing horses".[78]

Takemitsu attached the greatest importance to the director's conception of the film; in an interview with Ma

 

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Tessier, he explained that, "everything depends on the film itself [...] I try to concentrate as much as possibl

on the subject, so that I can express what the director feels himself. I try to extend his feelings with my

music."[79]

Awards

Takemitsu won awards for composition, both in Japan and abroad, including the Prix Italia for his orchestrawork Tableau noir in 1958, the Otaka Prize in 1976 and 1981, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award in 1987

for the film score Ran) and the Grawemeyer Award in 1994 (for Fantasma/Cantos).[2]  In Japan, he receive

he Film Awards of the Japanese Academy for outstanding achievement in music, for soundtracks to the

ollowing films:

1979 Ai no borei ()

1986 Ran ()

1990 Rikyu ()

1996 Sharaku ()

He was also invited to attend numerous international festivals throughout his career, and presented lectures

and talks at academic institutions across the world. He was made an honorary member of the Akademie der

Künste of the DDR in 1979, and the American Institute of Arts and Letters in 1985. He was admitted to the

French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985, and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1986. He is the recipient

he 22nd Suntory Music Award (1990).

He was posthumously awarded the fourth Glenn Gould Prize in Autumn, 1996.

Notable compositions

Further information: List of compositions by T !ru Takemitsu

Orchestral Works

 Requiem for String Orchestra (1957) Music of Tree (1961)The Dorian Horizon (1966)Green (1967)Winter (1971)

 A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977) A Way A Lone II  for string orchestra (version of AWay a Lone for string quartet)

 Rain Coming for chamber orchestra (1982) Dream/Window (1985)Twill by Twilight—In Memory of Morton Feldman(1988)Tree Line for chamber orchestra (1988)

Chamber works

 Le Son Calligraphé I–III  for four violintwo violas and two cellos (1958–1960)

 Ring for flute, terz guitar and lute (1961Corona II for string(s) graphic work incollaboration with K!hei Sugiura (1962

 Arc for Strings graphic work (1963)Valeria for violin, cello, guitar, electricorgan and two piccolos (1965)

 Eucalyptus II  for flute, oboe and harp(1971)

 In an Autumn Garden for gagaku orche(1973/1979)Garden Rain for brass ensemble (1974)

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Visions (1990)

I MystèreII Les yeux clos

 How slow the Wind  (1991) Archipelago S. for twenty-one players (1993)

Works for soloists and orchestra

 Arc Part I  for piano and orchestra (1963–1966/1976)

I Pile (1963)II Solitude (1966)III Your love and the crossing (1963)

 Arc Part II  for piano and orchestra (1964–1966/1976)

I Textures (1964)II Reflection (1966)III Coda... Shall begin from the end  (1966)

 November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra(1967)

 Asterism for piano and orchestra (1967) Eucalyptus I  for flute, oboe, harp and string orchestra(1970)

 Autumn for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra (1973)Quatrain for clarient, violin, cello, piano and orchestra(1975)Far calls. Coming, far! for violin and orchestra (1980)Toward the Sea II  for alto flute, harp and stringorchestra (version of Toward the Sea for alto flute andguitar (1981))To the Edge of Dream for guitar and orchestra (1983)Orion and Pleiades for cello and orchestra (1984)riverrun for piano and orchestra (1984)

 I Hear the Water Dreaming for flute and orchestra

(1987) Nostalghia—In Memory of Andrei Tarkovsky  for violinand string orchestra (1987)

 A String Around Autumn for viola and orchestra (1989)From Me Flows What You Call Time for 5percussionists and orchestra (1990)Fantasma/Cantos for clarinet and orchestra (1991),winner of the Grawemeyer Award for Music

Waves for clarinet, horn, two trombonesand bass drum (1976)Quatrain II  for clarinet, violin, cello andpiano (1977)

 A Way a Lone for string quartet (1981) Rocking Mirror Daybreak  for Violin Du(1983)

Signals from Heaven—two antiphonalfanfares for two brass groups (1987)

I Day SignalII Night Signal

 And then I knew 'twas Wind  for flute, viand harp (1992)

Piano works

 Romance (1949) Lento in Due Movimenti (1950)(unpublished/original lost—rewritten as

 Litany, 1989)Piano Distance (1961)Corona for pianist(s) graphic score (incollaboration with K!hei Sugiura) (196Crossing graphic score (in collaborationwith K!hei Sugiura) (1962)

For Away (1973) Les yeux clos (1979) Rain Tree Sketch (1982) Litany—In Memory of Michael Vynerrecomposition of Lento in Due Movimen(1950/1989)

 Rain Tree Sketch II—In Memoriam Oliv Messiaen (1992)

Film scores

Pitfall (Otoshiana), dir. HiroshiTeshigahara (1962)

 Harakiri, dir. Masaki Kobayashi (1962)Woman in the Dunes, dir. HiroshiTeshigahara (1964)Kaidan, dir. Masaki Koba ashi 1964

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Composition.Quotation of Dream for two pianos and orchestra(1991)

Electronic and Tape Music

Static Relief , magnetic tape (1955)

Vocalism A I , magnetic tape (1956)Water Music (1960)Kaidan (1964)

  Assassination, dir. Masahiro Shinoda(1964)The Face of Another, dir. HiroshiTeshigahara (1966)Samurai Rebellion, dir. Masaki Kobaya(1967)

 Double Suicide, dir. Masahiro Shinoda

(1969) Dodesukaden, dir. Akira Kurosawa (197 Empire of Passion, dir. Nagisa Oshima(1978)

 Ran, dir. Akira Kurosawa (1985) Black Rain , dir. Shohei Imamura (1989)

Other instrumental

 Masque, for 2 flutes (1959, 1960) Eclipse, for biwa and shakuhachi (1966Voice, (1971)Folios for guitar (1974)

 All in Twilight  for guitar (1988) Itinerant—In Memory of Isamu Noguch(1989)

 In the Woods for guitar (1995) Air (1995) (last published work)

Listening

Toru Takemitsu at the Avant Garde Project (http://www.avantgardeproject.org/AGP24/index.htm)Richard Stoltzman and Chris Comer (http://chriscomerradio.com/stoltzman/stoltzman11-29-05.htm)discuss the Takemitsu Clarinet Concerto Fantasma/Cantos (29 November 2005)Toru Takemitsu: Air (http://www.lunanova.org/podcasts/air.mp3) , John McMurtery(http://www.johnmcmurtery.com) , fluteToru Takemitsu: Voice (http://www.lunanova.org/podcasts/voice.mp3) , John McMurtery(http://www.johnmcmurtery.com) , flute

Further reading

General reference

Burt, Peter (2001). The Music of Toru Takemitsu. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521782201.Ohtake, Noriko (1993). Creative sources for the Music of Toru Takemitsu. Scolar Press.ISBN 0859679543.Takemitsu, Toru (1995). Confronting Silence. Fallen Leaf Press. ISBN 0914913360.

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Kreidy, Ziad (2009). TAKEMITSU à l’écoute de l’inaudible. L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-296-07763-8

Takemitsu, T!ru, with Cronin, Tania & Tann, Hilary, "Afterword", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 2no. 2 (Summer, 1989), 205–214, accessible at JSTOR, (subscription access) [5](http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-6016%28198922%2927%3A2%3C205%3AA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Takemitsu, T!ru, (trans. Adachi, Sumi with Reynolds, Roger), "Mirrors", Perspectives of New Musicvol. 30 no. 1 (Winter, 1992), 36–80 accessible at JSTOR, (subscription access) [6]

(http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-6016(199224)30%3A1%3C36%3AM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P)Takemitsu, T!ru, (trans. Hugh de Ferranti) "One Sound", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 8, part 2(Harwood, 1994), 3–4, accessible at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com) (subscription acce[7] (http://dx.dol.org/10.1080/07494469400640021)Takemitsu, T!ru, "Contemporary Music in Japan", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27 no. 2 (Summer1989), 198–204 accessible at JSTOR, (subscription access) [8] (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-6016%28198922%2927%3A2%3C198%3ACMIJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H)

Other references

Koozin, Timothy, "Traversing distances: pitch organization, gesture and imagery in the late works of 

T!ru Takemitsu", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 21, no.4, (Taylor and Francis, 2002), 17–34accessible at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com) (subscription access) [9](http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07494460216671)Nuss, Steven, "Hearing 'Japanese', hearing Takemitsu", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 21, no.4,(Taylor and Francis, 2002), 35–71 accessible at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com)(subscription access) [10] (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07494460216667)

Notes and references

1. ^ McKenzie, Don, "Review: [Untitled] Reviewed Work(s): To the Edge of Dream, for Guitar and Orchestra",  Not

2nd Ser., vol. 46, no. 1. (Music Library Association, Sep., 1989), 230.2. ^ a b c d  e  f   g h i   j  k  Narazaki, Yoko (with Kanazawa Masakata). "Takemitsu, Toru", Grove Music Online , ed. L.

Macy (accessed 4 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http://www.grovemusic.com/) (subscription access).

3. ^ "Takemitsu, Toru", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music , Ed. Michael Kennedy, (Oxford, 1996), Oxford 

 Reference Online , Oxford University Press (accessed 16 March 2007) [1]

(http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t76.e8918) (subscription access).

4. ^ Burt, Takemitsu's Works, "The Music of Toru Takemitsu", 277–280.

5. ^ a b Wilson, Charles, "Review: Peter Burt, The Music of Toru Takemitsu",  Music Analysis, 23/i (Oxford: 2004),

6. ^ Burton, Anthony, "Takemitsu, T!ru", The Oxford Companion to Music , Ed. Alison Latham, (Oxford University

Press, 2002), Oxford Reference Online , (accessed 2 April 2007) [2]

(http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t114.e6633) (subscription access).

7. ^ Burt, Peter (PDF). The Music of Toru Takemitsu(http://assets.cambridge.org/97805210/26956/excerpt/9780521026956_excerpt.pdf) . (Cambridge University Press,

2001), 1. http://assets.cambridge.org/97805210/26956/excerpt/9780521026956_excerpt.pdf.

8. ^ Takemitsu, T!ru, "Foreword", Confronting Silence, (California, 1995), vii

9. ^ a b c d  e  f   g h i  Takemitsu, T!ru, "Contemporary Music in Japan", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27, no. 2,

(Summer 1989), 3.

10. ^ Kanazawa, Masakata. "Japan, §IX, 2(i): Music in the period of Westernization: Western music and Japan up to

1945", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 9 March 2007), grovemusic.com (http://www.grovemusic.com

(subscription access).

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11. ^ Quoted in Ohtake, Noriko, "Creative Sources for the Music of Toru Takemitsu", (Scolar, Cambridge, 1993), 3.

12. ^ Schlüren, Christoph, "Review: Peter Burt, 'The Music of Toru Takemitsu' (Cambridge 2001)", Tempo no. 57,

(Cambridge, 2003), 65.

13. ^ "Takemitsu, Toru", Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music, ed. Michael Kennedy (Oxford 2004), 722, ISBN

9780198608844.

14. ^ Burt, 71.

15. ^ a b c Takemitsu, T!ru [with Tania Cronin and Hilary Tann], "Afterword", Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27 no

(Summer 1989), 205–207.

16. ^ Burt, 92.

17. ^ Burt, 94.

18. ^ See Burt, 96 and Takemitsu, "Afterword", 212.

19. ^ Smaldone, Edward, "Japanese and Western Confluences in Large-Scale Pitch Organization of T!ru Takemitsu's

November Steps and Autumn", Perspectives of New Music , vol. 27 no.2 (Summer, 1989), 217.

20. ^ a b Burt, 112.

21. ^ Burt, 111.

22. ^ Takemitsu, Mirrors, 69–70.

23. ^ Burt, 128-9.

24. ^ Takemitsu, "Afterword", 210.

25. ^ Burt, 132-33.

26. ^ Burt, 133 and 160

27. ^ Burt, 170.

28. ^ Takemitsu, "Notes on November Steps", Confronting Silence, 83

29. ^ Anderson, Julian, Liner Notes to Toru Takemitsu, Arc/Green, performed by London Sinfonietta/Oliver

Knussen/Rolf Hind, SINF CD3-2006.

30. ^ Burt, 118–124

31. ^ a b Kond!, J! "Introduction: T!ru Takemitsu as I remember him", Contemporary Music Review, Vol. 21, Iss. 4,

(December 2002), 1–3.

32. ^ Takemitsu, "Dream and Number", Confronting Silence, 112.

33. ^ Koozin, Timothy, "Traversing distances: pitch organization, gesture and imagery in the late works of T !ru

Takemitsu", Contemporary Music Review, Volume 21, Issue 4 (Routledge, December 2002), 22.

34. ^ Preface to score of Rain Coming (1982), quoted in Burt, 176.35. ^ Takemitsu, "Mirror and Egg", Confronting Silence, 91 & 96.

36. ^ Allan Kozin, 'Toru Takemitsu, 65, Introspective Composer Whose Music Evokes East and West, Is Dead',The N

York Times, (New York, February 21, 1996)

37. ^ Untranslated. T!ru Takemitsu and Kenzaburo Oe, Opera wo tsukuru, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1990.

38. ^ Schirmer Website Composer Profile (http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?

TabId=2420&State_2874=2&workId_2874=30179)

39. ^ Koozin, Timothy, "Octatonicism in Recent Solo Piano Works of T!ru Takemitsu", Perspectives of New Music, V

29, No. 1. (Winter, 1991), 124.

40. ^ Anderson, i

41. ^ Takemitsu, "Nature and Music", Confronting Silence, 5.

42. ^ Knussen, Oliver, Liner notes to Takmitsu: Quotation of Dream, performed by Paul Crossley/Peter Serkin/LondonSinfonietta/Oliver Knussen, Deutsche Grammophon: Echo 20/21 453 495-2.

43. ^ Takemitsu, "Nature and Music", Confronting Silence, 4.

44. ^ Burt, 22.

45. ^ Burt, 24.

46. ^ Burt, 62.

47. ^ Burt, 31 and 272.

48. ^ Takemitsu, T!ru, "One Sound", Contemporary Music Review vol. 8, part 2,, trans. Hugh de Ferranti, (Harwood,

1994), 3–4.

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49. ^ Day, Andrea, "Ma", Buildings & Cities in Japanese History, Columbia University Website, accessed 31 May 20

[3] (http://www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/V3613/ma/)

50. ^ Takemitsu, "One Sound", 4.

51. ^ Burt, 160–161.

52. ^ Poirer, Alain, T !ru Takemitsu, (Paris, 1996), 67–68.

53. ^ Burt, 166–174.

54. ^ Burt, 167 and Nuss, Steven, "Looking Forward, looking back: Influences of the Gagaku Tradition in the Music

Toru Takemitsu", Music of Japan Today: Tradition and Innovation, (lecture transcribed by E. Michael Richards,

1992) [4] (http://home.sprintmail.com/~emrichards/nuss.html) .

55. ^ Burt, 173–174.

56. ^ a b Burt, 155–156.

57. ^ Burt, 31 .

58. ^ See for example Burt, 34.

59. ^ Koozin, "Octatonicism in the Recent Piano Works of T!ru Takemitsu", 125.

60. ^ Koozin, "Octatonicism in the Recent Solo Piano Works of T!ru Takmitsu", 125.

61. ^ a b Takemitsu, T!ru, "The Passing of Nono, Feldman and Messiaen", Confronting Silence—Selected Writings ,

trans./ed. Yoshiko Kakudo and Glen Glasgow, (Berkley, 1995), 139–141.

62. ^ Burt, 154 and Koozin, "Octatonicism in the Recent Solo Piano Works of T!ru Takemitsu", 125.

63. ^ Takemitsu, Confronting Silence, 36–38.

64. ^ Whitall, Arnold, Liner notes to Takemitsu: Garden Rain, performed by Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, Deutsch

Grammophon: Echo 20/21 Series 00289 477 5382.

65. ^ Durand Cie Edition 1905: see Lesure, François. "Debussy, Claude, §6: Debussy and currents of ideas", Grove

 Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 14 June 2007), grovemusic.com (http://www.grovemusic.com/) (subscription

access).

66. ^ Takemitsu, T!ru, "Dream and Number", Confronting Silence, 110.

67. ^ Frank, Andrew, "Review: Orchestral and Instrumental Music: T!ru Takemitsu: Green", Notes, 2nd ser., vol. 33,

4 (June, 1977), 934.

68. ^ Quoted in Anderson, i.

69. ^ Burt, 118.

70. ^ Knussen, 5–6.

71. ^ Burt, 176–216.72. ^ Burt, 43.

73. ^ See Burt, 45.

74. ^ a b Lutos#awski, Witold, §5: Stylistic maturity, 1960–79. "Rae, Charles Bodman", Grove Music Online, ed. L. M

(accessed 13 October 2007), grovemusic.com (http://www.grovemusic.com/) (subscription access).

75. ^ Takemitsu, T!ru, A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden, (Editions Salabert, 1977), 20.

76. ^ Richie, Donald, "Notes on the Film Music of Takemitsu T!ru", Contemporary Music Review, vol. 21, iss. 4, 5–

(London, 2002), 5.

77. ^ Richie, 5.

78. ^ Richie, 7.

79. ^ Tessier, Max, "Takemitsu: Interview". Cinejap, (Paris, 1978), 1.

External links

Toru Takemitsu: Complete Works (http://chorch.fc2web.com/e/takemitsu_t2.html)Schott Music Biography (http://www.schott-music.com/autoren/KomponistenAZ/show,3558.html)Complete Takemitsu Edition (http://www.shogakukan.co.jp/takemitsu/) (Japanese)

Slate article focusing on his film music (http://www.slate.com/id/2151656)

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Interview with Toru Takemitsu (http://www.artistinterviews.eu/?page_id=62&parent_id=22/)(French) A biography (http://brahms.ircam.fr/composers/composer/3125/) of T!ru Takemitsu, fromIRCAM's website.Excerpts from sound archives (http://www.musiquecontemporaine.fr/en/search?disp=all&query=Takemitsu&exp_inl=on&exp_aud=on&so=ta) of Takemitsu's works.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dru_Takemitsu"Categories: 20th-century classical composers | Composers for the classical guitar | Grawemeyer Awardwinners | Japanese composers | Japanese film score composers | Deaths from bladder cancer | Cancer deathsapan | Deaths from pneumonia | Infectious disease deaths in Japan | 1930 births | 1996 deaths

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