4/29/20

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Tōru Takemitsu (1930-1996)

I wasn’t exposed to the works of Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu until my time at Vanderbilt, and since then I have become more and more interested in his aesthetic. The first piece of his that I heard was an orchestral work, Autumn (1973), which immediately struck me for its strange orchestration and its inspiration from nature. Then, during this past fall semester, Takemitsu was brought up in a course I had on music history of the last century. In that context, it was quite interesting to look at him as a product of Western classical music merging with east-Asian musical cultures. That second exposure, however, finally pushed me to do some more research into Takemitsu’s life and how his music developed during his life, eventually bringing me to today’s piece. Orion is a 12-14 minute piece for cello and piano written towards the end of his life, showcasing the harmonic and textural ingenuity of Takemitsu’s writing.

Takemitsu, as it will become evident when you listen to his music, was greatly influenced by composers like Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, and Arnold Schoenberg. Debussy’s influence can be seen in how Takemitsu’s harmonies seem to float, shifting in ways that often follow conventional or familiar harmonic language. Takemitsu once said that Debussy’s “greatest contribution was his unique orchestration which emphasizes colour, light and shadow ... the orchestration of Debussy has many musical focuses,” which also points to why his own orchestration is so unleashed from conventions. The influence that Messiaen had on Takemitsu is perhaps much more evident, as seen in his use of modes and the departure from regular metrical patterns. Almost every measure in Orion features a change in meter, and with no particular pattern it becomes clear that Takemitsu is attempting to stretch and pull time and provide no clear beat to the listener.

All of these musical elements and influences in Orion come together in truly spectacular fashion. To me, the piece almost gives the effect of drifting through space. The foreign relations of each of the chords seems to resemble distantly related colors, appearing and fading throughout the cosmic scene. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this effect is how the listener, as the piece goes on, perceives less and less of the harmonic relations and more of the harmonic recollection. This also draws attention to the form of the piece, which I can only describe as a sort of walk in space that brings you back to where you started by the end. By this I mean that the piece starts in one place, wanders around several other motives and melodic ideas, and then finds itself back at the beginning. In a lesson I had with Michael Slayton, he once mentioned how some pieces “always exist, and the listener is merely privy to the soundscape for the length of the piece,” and how others “have a clear beginning and end, with the piece only existing in that time frame.” I believe that Orion is perhaps one of the greatest representations of the former - the piece floats by, showing the vastness and continuity of outer space. This may be best summarized by a quote by Takemitsu: “Whereas the modern Western concept of time is linear in nature, that is, its continuance always maintains the same state, in Japan time is perceived as a circulating and repeating entity.”

With every listen, Orion climbs my own personal list for ‘favorite piece of chamber music.’ Even with its strangeness, the drifting quality always comes across as remarkably distant and evocative. While much of my own music is more tonally grounded, I certainly admire how Takemitsu is able to recall harmonic material from before in a way that also complements the form of the piece. That being said, Tōru Takemitsu also serves as an incredibly unique story in the history of 20th century composers. In addition to his art music, he also composed around 15 film scores, with many of which having earned him awards. His musical style throughout all of his music reminds me of a point I made in my post about Arturo Marquez, and the direction of new music. Takemitsu saw the beginning of a vast fusion of musical styles, with his own pieces showing significant influence from his native Japan and Western music tradition. As classical music moves forward, I believe there will be more and more composers like Tōru Takemitsu and Arturo Marquez who push the boundaries in how to cultures together. With that in mind, sit back, relax, and take a listen to Orion. While the musical language may seem strange at first, give it some time and allow yourself to float through it all. Below is a video with the score so that you can follow along.