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Toru Takemitsu.Author Shinchosha.

Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Toru Takemitsu

Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930. A  month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning.

In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school. However, his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944

Toru was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Mainly self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the indirect manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre.

 He is known for centralizing elements of orientalism. Moreover, occidental doctrine and for glueing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.

Let鈥檚 learn more about Toru Takemitsu

1. He Scored more than Ninety Films and Published Twenty Books

Tour Takemitsu 1995 wrote Confronting Silence. Fallen Leaf Press. Then later with Cronin, Tania and Tann, Hilary composed “Afterword”, Perspectives of New Music, vol. 27.

In 1992 Takemitsu, trans. Adachi, Sumi with Reynolds, Roger composed “Mirrors”, Perspectives of New Music, vol. 30. Two years later he composed “One Sound”, Contemporary Music Review, vol. 8, part 2.

2. He Conceived the Idea of Electronic Music Technology

In simpler terms, It was also described as bringing noise into tempered musical tones inside a busy small tube. During the 1950s, Takemitsu learned that in 1948, French engineer Pierre Schaeffer invented the method of musique concr猫te based on the same idea as his.

3.  Founding Member of the Anti-academic Jikken K艒b艒

It was an artistic group established for multidisciplinary collaboration on mixed-media projects, that sought to avoid Japanese artistic tradition.

The performances and works undertaken by the group introduced several contemporary Western composers to Japanese audiences. During this period he wrote Saegirarenai Ky奴soku I (“Uninterrupted Rest I”, 1952)

It was about a piano work, without a regular rhythmic pulse or bar lines and by 1955 Takemitsu had begun to use electronic tape-recording techniques in such works.

4. He came into contact with the experimental work of John Cage

Woodward with James Mallinson and Toru Takemitsu in 1974 during the recording of Corona. Author Roger Woodward.WIKIMEDIA

He was able to accomplish this during his time with Jikken K艒b艒. When the composer Toshi Ichiyanagi returned from his studies in America in 1961, he gave the first Japanese performance of Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra.

This left a deep impression on Takemitsu. He recalled the impact of hearing the work when writing an obituary for Cage 31 years later.

This encouraged Takemitsu in his use of indeterminate procedures and graphic-score notation.

5. He Resolved to Study all Types of Traditional Japanese Music

Takemitsu paid special attention to the differences between the two very different musical traditions. This was in a diligent attempt to bring forth the sensibilities of Japanese music that had always been within him.

This wasn鈥檛 an easy task, since in the years following the war traditional music was largely overlooked and ignored. Only one or two masters continued to keep their art alive, often meeting with public indifference.

6. He was Ill in his Twenties and Met his Wife then

Toru suffered from tuberculosis in his early twenties. He was married to Asaka Takemitsu (formerly Wakayama) for 42 years. She first met Toru then, cared for him when he was ill, and then married him in 1954.

They had one child, a daughter named Maki. Asaka attended most premieres of his music and published a memoir of their life together in 2010.

7. During his Career He Acquired Various Awards and Honours

Takemitsu won awards for writing, both in Japan and abroad, including the Prix Italia for his orchestral work Tableau noir in 1958.  He also won the Otaka Prize in 1976 and 1981.

In 1987, he won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award (for the film score Ran). Moreover, the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 1994.

Takemitsu was also invited to attend various international festivals throughout his career. Also,  he presented lectures and talks at academic institutions across the world.

He was admitted to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985, and the Acad茅mie des Beaux-Arts in 1986. Takemitsu was the recipient of the 22nd Suntory Music Award in 1990.

8. Takemitsu is among the most Important Composers in Japanese Music History

Takemitsu was also the first Japanese composer fully recognized in the west. He remained the guiding light for the younger generations of Japanese composers.

Composer Peter Lieberson said that he spent the most time with Toru in Tokyo. This was when he was invited to be a guest composer at his Music Festival in 1987.

Peter Serkin and composer Oliver Knussen were also there, as was cellist Fred Sherry. Though he was the senior of the group for many years, Toru stayed up with them every night and drank under the table.

9. He was a Cultural Ambassador Between Japan and the West

Takemitsu won the Prize for Top Excellence at the prestigious International Rostrum of Composers for Textures, a piece for piano and orchestra. He was the first composer from Asia to win the award.

Two years later, in 1967, came the premiere of November Steps, the piece described at the beginning of this article. While continuing to compose mostly for Western instruments. Takemitsu shifted his style from the 鈥渟trictness鈥� remarked on by Stravinsky to one marked by lush, opulent harmonies.

He continued to base himself in Japan, he traveled frequently overseas every year. He took seriously his role as a bridge between Japan and the West and worked hard to deepen international dialogues and exchanges.

 In addition to writing his music, he became a kind of cultural ambassador, organizing music festivals and inviting overseas artists to perform in Japan. He also introduced Japanese musicians to festivals overseas.

10. He wrote of his greatest ambition Towards the End of his Life 

Toward the end of his life, Takemitsu wrote of his ambition to 鈥渟wim in the ocean that has no west or east.鈥� The vast oceans, as the source of all life and symbol of death and rebirth.

They were one of the main themes of his music. With its gently flowing melodies, and lush harmonies evocative of wind, light, birds, and the natural world, his music echoed across what Takemitsu himself called the 鈥渟ea of tonality.