Takemitsu, Toru (
b Tokyo, 1930;
d Tokyo, 1996). Japanese composer. Organized experimental workshop for painters and composers in Tokyo, 1951. Designed Space Theatre at Osaka Exposition 1970. Visiting prof., Yale Univ. 1975. Comp.-in-residence Aldeburgh Fest. 1984, Huddersfield Fest. 1990. His mus. uses
avant-garde procedures and much of it is on tape. Influenced at first by Schoenberg, Messiaen, and Schaeffer's
musique concrète. Much concerned, like Ligeti, with timbre. Works incl.:ORCH.:
Requiem, str. (1957);
Solitude Sonore (1958);
Tableau noir, narr., chamber orch. (1958);
Scene, vc., str. (1959);
Coral Island, sop., orch. (1959);
Music of Trees (1961);
Arc, Part I, pf., orch. (1963–6/1976), Part II, pf., orch. (1964–6/1976);
Dorian Horizon, 17 str. (1966);
Green (1967);
November Steps, shakuhachi, biwa, orch. (1967);
Asterism, pf., orch. (1967);
Crossing, 4 instr. soloists, women's vv., 2 orchs. (1970);
Eucalypts I, fl., ob., hp., str. (1970);
Winter (1971);
Cassiopeia, perc. solo, orch. (1971);
Gemeaux, ob., tb., 2 orch, 2 cond. (1971–86);
Autumn, biwa, shakuhachi, orch. (1973);
Gitimalya (
Bouquet of Songs), marimba, orch. (1974);
Quatrain, vn., vc., cl., pf., orch. (1975);
Marginalia (1976);
A Flock descends into the pentagonal garden (1977);
Far Calls, Coming, far!, vn., orch. (1980);
Dreamtime (1981);
A Way a Lone II (vers. of str. qt.), str. (1981);
Toward the Sea II (vers. of work for alt. fl., gui.), alt. fl., hp., str. (1981);
Star-Isle (1982):
Rain Coming, chamber orch. (1982);
To the Edge of Dream, gui., orch. (1983);
Orion and Pleiades, vc., orch. (1984);
Vers,
l'arc-en-ciel,
Palma, gui., ob. d'amore, orch. (1984);
riverrun, pf., orch. (1984);
Dream/Window (1985);
I hear the water dreaming, fl., orch. (1987);
Nostalghia (in memory of Andrey Tarkovsky), vn., str. (1987);
Twill by Twilight (in memory of Morton Feldman) (1988);
Tree Line, chamber orch. (1988);
A String Around Autumn, va., orch. (1989);
Visions (1990);
My Way of Life (in memory of Michael Vyner), bar., ch., orch. (1990);
From me flows what you call Time, 5 perc., orch. (1990).CHORAL:
Wind Horse, ch. (1961–6);
Grass, male ch. (1982);
Handmade Proverbs (4 Pop Songs), 6 male vv. (1987)CHAMBER MUSIC:
Distance de fée, vn., pf. (1951, rev. 1989);
Le son calligraphié I and II, 4 vv., 2 va., 2 vc. (1958–60);
Masque, 2 fl. (1959–60);
Landscape, str. qt. (1960);
Ring, fl., gui., lute (1961);
Sacrifice, alt. fl., lute, vib. (1962);
Valeria, vn., vc., gui., elec. org. (1965);
Hika, vn., pf. (1966);
Munari by Munari, perc. solo (1967–72);
Stanza I, gui., pf., hp., vib., female v. (1969);
Eucalypts II, fl., ob., hp. (1971);
Voice, fl. (1971);
Stanza II, hp., tape (1971);
Distance, ob. (1972);
Folios, gui. (1974);
Garden Rain, brass (1974);
Bryce, fl., 2 hp., 2 perc. (1976);
Waves, solo cl., hn., 2 tb., bass drum (1976);
Quatrain II, cl., vn., vc., pf. (1977);
Waterways, cl., vn., vc., pf., 2 hp., 2 vib. (1978);
A Way a Lone, str. qt. (1981);
Toward the Sea, alt. fl., gui. (1981);
Rain Spell, fl., cl., hp., pf., vib. (1982);
Rocking Mirror Daybreak, 2 vn. (1983);
From far beyond Chrysanthemums and November Fog, vn., pf. (1983);
Orion, vc., pf. (1984);
Entre-Temps, ob., str. qt. (1986);
Rain Dreaming, hpd. (1986);
All in Twilight, gui. (1987);
Itinerant, fl. (1989);
Toward the Sea III, alt. fl., hp. (1989).ELEC. MUS. & THEATRE PIECES:
Static Relief, magnetic tape (1955);
Vocalism A.I., magnetic tape (1956);
Sky,
Horse and Death, tape (1958);
Water Music, tape (1960);
Kwaidan, tape (1964);
Toward, tape (1970);
A Minneapolis Garden, tape (1986);
The Sea is Still, tape (1986).PIANO:
Lento in due movimenti (1950);
Uninterrupted Rest (1952–9);
Piano Distance (1961);
Crossing (1962);
For away (1973);
Les yeux clos I (1979), II (1988);
Rain Tree Sketch (1982).
