Since being introduced to blogging and consequently Kyall Gann’s blog in this class, I find myself routinely reading Gann’s insights and opinions on music and musicians. In fact, I am sincerely disappointed when he does not blog everyday. I find his entries along with our class discussions, an excellent point of departure for my own musical explorations (it doesn’t take very much to peek my musical interest nowadays).
Gann’s Friday blog entry referred to an interview where the composer/performer Aron Kallay made considerable reference to Toru Takemitsu, another composer that I recall only learning flippantly during my undergraduate degree. Considering the fact that we’ve incorporated several international/internationally-influenced innovators (Hermeto Pascoal, Christopher Adler, Julian Carrrillo) in our studies over the past months, I thought it only appropriate that I do my own little digging into Takemitsu.
Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) a Japanese composer inspired by Bach, Debussy and Messian, was most known for his innovative musical timbres both instrumentally and orchestrally. He composed a large body of film scores, both in the USA and in Japan. Takemitsu gained much of his Western musical influence through the music predominantly introduced in Asia through military bands during the war. It was only after meeting Cage that he started to root his compositions in the traditional Japanese culture though. It’s my understanding that Cage’s interest in Zen directly influenced Takemitsu’s decision to draw from his traditional roots and incorporate those into his compositions and subsequently resulted in his further studies in traditional music and instruments.
The interview recording posted on the blog had some interesting food for thought regarding Takemitsu’s perception and preferences for joining eastern and western music. Firstly, reference was made of a quote by Takemistu, saying that “Japanese do not appreciate the sound of Allegro”. He goes on to talk about the aesthetic ideas behind the making of music “we are rarely aware that our ears are always hearing, and our eyes are always seeing, that our breath is always breathing .…if you open up to those senses, you have an extraordinary continuity. Silence and Sound are joined”.
If you take a moment to listen to a clip of Takemitsu’s music, you can experience what he is referring to (I highly recommend a rainy Sunday afternoon to appreciate and truly absorb the experience). There is an obvious escape from ‘Traditional tools of music, melody, harmony, rhythm’ and a definite Cagean influence (a statement I can say with authority and confidence now).
Listen to From me Flows what you call time
It’s fascinating how Takemitsu uses the instruments as elements of nature as opposed to simply virtuostic machines. There are some interesting extended techniques and most importantly, beautiful timbres and sonorities (perfect for my overloaded and overstressed mind on a Sunday evening).
On a personal note, the aspects of the interview that spurred my consequent readings on Takemitsu, were the extreme contradictions that Takemitsu brings to light between eastern and western traditions. The reference to ‘erasing the ego’ that is so contradictory to the culture that we live in. But in the same breathe, the need for a ‘Universal language’ in music and society. In reference to Cage’s influence on Takemitsu, Kallay quoted “Takemitsu’s music is the best music that Cage ever wrote”. Meaning that Takemistu understood Cage’s musical ideas and took it a step further by adding Asian continuities.
It’s fascinating how Takemitsu uses the instruments as elements of nature as opposed to simply virtuostic machines. There are some interesting extended techniques and most importantly, beautiful timbres and sonorities (perfect for my overloaded and overstressed mind on a Sunday evening).
On a personal note, the aspects of the interview that spurred my consequent readings on Takemitsu, were the extreme contradictions that Takemitsu brings to light between eastern and western traditions. The reference to ‘erasing the ego’ that is so contradictory to the culture that we live in. But in the same breathe, the need for a ‘Universal language’ in music and society. In reference to Cage’s influence on Takemitsu, Kallay quoted “Takemitsu’s music is the best music that Cage ever wrote”. Meaning that Takemistu understood Cage’s musical ideas and took it a step further by adding Asian continuities.
Those are my random thoughts for the evening.....I'm far more interested in the sounds....
Nicola, I'm glad not only that you wrote about Takemitsu (whose music I love) but also that you specifically mentioned From Me Flows What You Call Time. The piece was written to feature the percussion group NEXUS, and NEXUS member Bob Becker's experience with the piece inspired his article "The Paradoxes of Percussion," which provides a great insight into how we do our thing. You can check out the article at http://www.nexuspercussion.com/Nexus33.html.
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