[center][b]TORU TAKEMITSU (1930-1996)

Visions November Steps

Requiem Far Calls. Coming, far!

[img]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/616MmNFn1jL.jpg[/img]
[/center]

COMPOSER'S NOTES
[quote]1. REQUIEM for strings
This work is essentially structured in free ternary form on the basis of a single
theme. The tempos of the three sections are Lent, Modr, and Lent. But the borders
between these tempos are highly elusive; the theme lodges within a vaguely defined
vibrational amplitude which expands like ripples. As in a convulsion, the Modr
section appears all of a sudden like an air bubble, and attempts to converge with
the constantly slack vibrational amplitude. The specified tempos are thus mere
expedients for performance and notation purposes; the work might be more accurately
described as a set of variations with a tempo from start to finish of 1/4 = 60. The
concept of "metre" in this work is totally different from that generally employed
in western music. The work is structured on the foundation of what one might
describe as "one by one" rhythm. There is no clear beginning or end. I have merely
extracted at random a part of the continuum of sound which flows like an
undercurrent beneath mankind and his universe. Such is how I would express the
essential character of the work. "Meditation" would have been an equally apt title
for this "Requiem". Meditation implies an exclusivistic concentration on God, and,
similarly, this choice of title was prompted by a desire to concentrate the mind on
a single ob)ject.

2. NOVEMBER STEPS
1. It should not be a composer's business to strive to blend Japanese traditional
instruments naturally with the western orchestra. On the contrary, he should
attempt to emphasise the unique sonic domain inhabited by the biwa and the
shakuhachi by setting it off strongly against the orchestra.
2. Establishing many different auditory focuses is an objective facet of the act of
composition; another facet involves attempting to hear a single sound from out of a
vast number.
3. Sound in western music ambulates horizontally. But the sound of the shakuhachi
stands upright like a tree.
4. Are you aware that the ultimate sound sought after in performance by the
shakuhachi master is that produced when the wind blows through an aged bamboo
thicket?
5. One must first concentrate on the simple act of listening. One then comes to
appreciate to what the sounds themselves aspire.
6. A biologist once remarked suggestively that dolphins communicate with each other
not through sound itself but through the length of the silences between individual
sounds.
7. Just as time differs depending on where one is on the Earth, so various time
bands are established within the orchestra. A temporal spectrum.
8. One must not give the impression of a single musical work therewith being
completed. Which is the more enjoyable: a journey thoroughly planned out in advance
or a journey for which no advance preparations have been made?
9. Most contemporary composers have constructed walls of sound employing their own
unique building methods. But who is there within these walls?
10. Eleven steps without any specific melodie subject. Metre constantly vacillating
as in the music of the Noh.
11. November Steps was composed in response to a commission from the New York
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the 125 th anniversary of the
orchestra's foundation. It was first performed by that orchestra in November 1967.

3. FAR CALLS. COMING, FAR! for violin and orchestra

Over the past few years I have been working on two series of compositions based on
the themes of "dreams and numbers" and "water". Works in the former series include
Quatrain and A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, those in the latter
Waterways and Waves. The present work, Far Calls, Coming, far! for violin and
orchestra, is situated at the point of confluence between these two series. I took
the title from James Joyces Finnegan's Wake, a novel which abounds with this
author's unique dream language, and apparently gains a certain identity from its
water imagery. I say "apparently" because my linguistic ability is quite inadequate
to enable me to read the highly abstruse original with any degree of comprehension.
I can merely imagine the nature of the work by reading abridged translations and
commentaries in Japanese. The River Liffey, which flows through Dublin, plays an
important role in the novel. According to the critic Masayoshi Osawa, "Far Calls,
Coming, far!" quoted as the title of my work are words sung by Anna Livia as she
gazes on the union of the River Liffey with the paternal sea. In addition to its
"literal" meaning, the phrase reverberates on a higher level with multilingual
puns. Strong sexual imagery also appears to be present. After a section of
vacillation, the music advances into the mainstream, with a tonic on the pitch C.
In the midst of a nocturnal landscape outlined by two sets of intervals (perfect
fifth, augmented fourth, perfect fifth, minor second, perfect fourth, major third,
minor third), the music streams outwards to the sea as represented by the tonality
of C.

4. VISIONS for orchestra

1. Mystre
2. Les Yeux Clos
When asked to compose a work to commemorate the centenary of the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, I recalled an experience I had had many years ago during a stay in
Chicago. The airport being closed on account of heavy snow, I spent almost a week
at a friend's home in the city. I took this opportunity to make daily visits to the
Chicago Art Institute, located opposite the Symphony Hall, and thereby gained the
chance to view this museum's vast collection of art works. Those which impressed me
most, in an almost indescribable manner, were the paintings of the French artist
Odilon Redon. Although almost twenty years have elapsed since, I felt motivated to
compose a work related to Redon's paintings in response to this commission from the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Visions was inspired by Mystre and Les Yeux Clos, two
paintings in colour dating from Redon's later years. Redon created three works
entitled Les Yeux Clos, two monochrome lithographs and one oil painting. The
composition of all three is the same: a woman with eyes closed depicted in an
atmosphere of meditative tranquillity. I had previously composed two piano pieces
with this title based on the lithographs. This orchestral piece thus completes my
Les Yeux Clos set.[/quote]
Toru Takemitsu Translated by Robin Thompson

1. [b]Requiem[/b] for strings (1951) [9'21]

2. [b]November Steps[/b] (1961) [19'50]
for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra
3. [b]Far Calls. Coming, far![/b] (19811) [14'46]
for violin and orchestra
[b]Visions[/b] (1989)
for orchestra
4. I. Mystre [5'40]
5. II. Les yeux clos [6'40]

[color=red]Kinshi Tsuruta, biwa

Katsuya Yokoyama, shakuhachi
Yuzuko Horigome, violin
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
Hiroshi Wakasugi[/color]
Recording: 29-31 July 1991 Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space
Artistic Director: Yoshiharu Kawaguchi
Recording Engineer: Hiroshi Gotoh (1, 3, 4), Norio Okada (2)
Technology: Keizo Inokuchi
Recorded under the supervision of the composer
Co-production with Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
1992 DENON RECORDS/Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd.
CO-79441