Tōru Takemitsu: Romance for piano
- Demi Nicks
- Sep 24, 2016
- 2 min read
The music of Tōru Takemitsu has a variety of influences that combine to create a unique sound and musical language. The multifaceted nature of his music allows for many different avenues of exploration, most notable, the fusion of Western and Eastern musical concepts. As a majority of the Japanese composers in his generation, Takemitsu intensely studied Western music, almost abandoning his own cultural traditions. However, he eventually came to appreciate traditional Japanese music and began incorporating elements of it into his compositions. Though these traditional elements are not always in the forefront, they are undoubtedly important to the construction of Takemitsu’s music.
Most Japanese music is based on two five-note scales—in and yo.[if !supportFootnotes][1][endif] Though Takemitsu avoided Japanese tradition, these scales appeared in his music. He was greatly influenced by Messiaen and his Modes of Limited Transposition, specifically the octatonic and whole tone scales. These became a signature element of his compositions. He explains, “Mode is a horizontal series of sounds, an organic series that interests me because it does not reject sounds from outside the scale.”[if !supportFootnotes][2][endif] George Russell’s The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization also provided an arsenal of modes to the composer.[if !supportFootnotes][3][endif]
Other compositional characteristics include an affinity for slow tempos and free rhythm and meter, much like Messiaen. Highly interested in exploring timbral possibilities, Takemitsu took inspiration from Debussy’s unique orchestration which, “seeks many points of focus and many gradations of color… [and] is also very spatial.”[if !supportFootnotes][4][endif] Traditional Japanese music values the integrity of a single sound. The traditional concept of ma, somewhat hard to define, is the unsounded part of the experience, a powerful silence. Takemitsu writes, “it is here that sound and silence confront each other, balancing each other in a relationship beyond any objective measurement.”[if !supportFootnotes][5][endif]
Today, I am sharing Romance for piano, one of the earliest works from his solo piano output. Japanese musical elements are certainly present in this piece which I love for its somewhat simplistic yet dramatic quality.
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[if !supportFootnotes][1][endif] Linda Fujie, “East Asia/Japan,” in Worlds of Music, ed. Jeff Todd Titon (Belmont: Wadsworth Group, 2002), 334.
[if !supportFootnotes][2][endif] Tōru Takemitsu, Confronting Silence: Selected Writings, trans. Yoshiko Kakudo and Glenn Glasow (Berkeley, CA: Fallen Leaf Press, 1995), 119.
[if !supportFootnotes][3][endif] George Russell, Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (New York, NY: Concept Pub. Co., 1959).
[if !supportFootnotes][4][endif] Takemitsu, Cronin, and Tann, “Afterword: Tōru Takemitsu with Tania Cronin and Hilary Tann,” Perspectives of New Music (1989): 207- 208.
[if !supportFootnotes][5][endif] Tōru Takemitsu, Confronting Silence: Selected Writings, trans. Yoshiko Kakudo and Glenn Glasow (Berkeley, CA: Fallen Leaf Press, 1995), 51.
***Note: The background information above was taken from a research project I completed on Takemitsu's piano works.
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