# Toru Takemitsu: Recommended Works, Recommended Recordings



## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Among the (many) gaps in my collection are works by Toru Takemitsu. I've been reading Tom Service's helpful overview of Takemitsu:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/feb/11/contemporary-music-guide-toru-takemitsu

I would like to start with, say, 4 or 5 CDs worth of his music. Two indispensable starting points seem to be: _A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden_; _From Me Flows What You Call Time_.

What 5 CDs would you recommend? A first glance of the discography seems to indicate starting with these. Any thoughts?

















In the Takemitsu thread in the "Composers Guestbook" section, Crudblud gives helpful YouTube links of "Autumn," "November Steps" and "Dream / Window". Other works? Other recordings?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

A lot of great recordings are available only in Japan, on Japanese labels. The Brilliant set shown above is sourced from Denon, and they have more discs in the same series, which I have not heard, but I am sure they are excellent.

Broadly speaking, Takemitsu's music falls into two stylistic periods: the works of his early maturity, from the late 50s through the early 70s, and the later works, from the late 70s through 1996. The differences between the two aren't as great as one might imagine, but the earlier works are more experimental in nature, reflecting the composer's interest in John Cage and the European avant-garde, and the later works are less experimental, though just as fully characteristic. His style, throughout his career, is inspired by Debussy and Messiaen in particular.

Deutsche Grammophon released a number of Takemitsu discs in their 20/21 series.










This disc is spit into two halves. The first half contains A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden and Quatrain, played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa. I am particularly fond of the first of these two pieces, which was one of the works that ushered in Takemitsu's later style. The second half of the disc is devoted to chamber works from the 60s, and all of them bear the imprint of Boulez's Le marteau sans maitre in their instrumentation (guitars, vibraphone, flute) and their post-Webern purity.










This disc contains all of the works Takemitsu wrote for traditional Japanese instruments alone, including a truncated version of November Steps cut down to just the final cadenza. The biggest piece here is In an Autumn Garden, for gagaku ensemble, but if you really want that one...










...this disc is the one to get. It has the other movements Takemitsu added subsequently, and it is his longest single work (because gagaku takes a lot of time)


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## Lovemylute (Jul 17, 2014)

"To The Edge of Dream" is a nice, ethereal guitar concerto. I am partial to the Julian Bream/Simon Rattle recording on EMI (which is not all Takemitsu, but contains two other wonderful guitar concerti, by Rodrigo and Arnold). The CD is out of print, but used copies can quite readily be found.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

For Takemitsu's piano works, there are a number of fine recordings out there, and Fukuma's on Naxos isn't the best, but it's inexpensive and widely available.










Speaking of Naxos, this disc offers a number of Takemitsu's chamber works in good performances, many of them from their dedicatees.










If you can import, pick up this Denon release with Coral Island and The Dorian Horizon, some of the gems of Takemitsu's earlier period.

Avoid the following:
The Naxos recording of Takemitsu's Orchestral Works with Alsop and the Bournemouth Symphony, who don't have a sense of the idiom at all.
John Williams' (yes, _that_ John Williams) recording of Treeline with the London Symphony.
The "Songs" discs, unless you're aware of the fact that these are works in a popular idiom, not art songs.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Oh, and yes, the two you mentioned are great starting points.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Mahlerian, Many thanks for all the recommendations. I have found copies of all of them on Amazon and elsewhere for very good prices, including the Japanese issue of _In an Autumn Garden_. Except: The DG 20/21 of _A Flock Descends ..._, which is out of print and a bit expensive as a CD but is readily available as a download. So that's the only undecided at this point. I need to keep listening to the YouTube versions of each to decide on priorities, but I'll get them all before too long. I am very grateful for the good expertise.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2014)

My favorites are:

The sony disc first mentioned by Alypius (with "From Me Flows What You Call Time")
The two naxos discs mentioned by Mahlerian (special plus with the chamber music - VIBRAPHONE)

There's 3. I'll round out a top 5 with:









and









This BIS disc has all the pieces with instrumentation you'd expect in Western classical music, contrary to the Naxos disc full of flutes, guitars and mallets. Compliment your vibraphones with some old standards - a work for piano trio, two works for string quartet, and so on.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

These are fine recommendations so far. The Denon reissue by Brilliant is definitely well worth having, as are all of the ones on DG. Of these latter, I would also recommend:










This is a chamber work, done three times with different performers (flute and guitar; flute, harp and strings; flute and harp), with a short piece separating each version from the one following. It is a very still album, as the title suggests.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

arcane & brotagonist, Thanks for those additional recommendations. I just discovered that they are on Spotify -- which will allow me to preview them. I've already added them to my quickly growing wishlist (which was the whole idea for this thread). And the use of vibes on the Naxos _Chamber Music_ (notably _Rain Tree_) is quite captivating. I'm sold! Now on order.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

The Dorian Horizon (for seventeen strings) (1966) this is, imo, a remarkable piece, and 'beautiful.' I was introduced to it from the recording named below, and since then I find it has not paled in either listening interest or pleasure.

_Green [November steps II]_ (1967) with Takemitsu's style all over it, the influences of Messiaen and that it is a near direct tribute to / emulation of Debussy's _Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune._

~ These were both on one LP disc, with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Toronto Symphony orchestra. I vastly prefer the performance on this of _The Dorian Horizon,_ far and away with more of the timing, flexible but with the right forward momentum, giving a feeling of spaciousness, and an overall more lyric quality by far compared to the recording with the Tokyo Symphony players.

This disc also had on it _November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra_ (1967), the _Requiem for string orchestra_, and _Asterism for piano and orchestra_ (1967)
_Asterism_





A lot of his later mature earlier phase music. Strong recommend.
These are now all available as MP3's via Amazon

Takemitsu is one of a very small handful of classical composers whose works gained international status, the admiration of audiences and the admiration and respect of musicians -- and who was largely self-taught.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I am very fond of Takemitsu's "All in Twilight," for solo guitar. I most often listen to Julian Bream's version, who I believe commissioned the work; there are also great pairings on that disk, including the definitive Britten "Nocturnal." If you want more Takemitsu for your buck, though, Franz Halász has a good disk containing Takemitsu's complete music for solo guitar.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I have How Slow The Wind on BIS, and the Brilliant Classics 2 CD set. There are many great pieces on these sets.


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