Tōru Takemitsu  

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Toru Takemitsu (October 8, 1930 – February 20, 1996) was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre.

Notable compositions

Orchestral works

• Requiem for String Orchestra (1957)
• Music of Tree (1961)
• The Dorian Horizon (1966)
• Green (1967)
• Winter (1971)
• A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (1977)
• A Way A Lone II for string orchestra (version of A Way a Lone for string quartet)
• Dreamtime (1981)
• Rain Coming for chamber orchestra (1982)
• Dream/Window (1985)
• Twill by Twilight—In Memory of Morton Feldman (1988)
• Tree Line for chamber orchestra (1988)
• Visions (1990)

I Mystère

II Les yeux clos

• How slow the Wind (1991)
• Archipelago S. for 21 players (1993)

Works for soloists and orchestra

• Scene: for cello and string orchestra (1958)
• Arc Part I for piano and orchestra (1963–1966/1976)

I Pile (1963)

II Solitude (1966)

III Your love and the crossing (1963)

• Arc Part II for piano and orchestra (1964–1966/1976)

I Textures (1964)

II Reflection (1966)

III Coda ... Shall begin from the end (1966)

• November Steps for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra (1967)
• Asterism for piano and orchestra (1967)
• Eucalypts I for flute, oboe, harp and string orchestra (1970)
• Autumn for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra (1973)
• Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra (1975)
• Far calls. Coming, far! for violin and orchestra (1980)
• Toward the Sea II for alto flute, harp and string orchestra (version of Toward the Sea for alto flute and guitar (1981))
• To the Edge of Dream for guitar and orchestra (1983)
• Orion and Pleiades for cello and orchestra (1984)
• riverrun for piano and orchestra (1984)
• I Hear the Water Dreaming for flute and orchestra (1987)
• Nostalghia—In Memory of Andrei Tarkovsky for violin and string orchestra (1987)
• A String Around Autumn for viola and orchestra (1989)
• From Me Flows What You Call Time for five percussionists and orchestra (1990)
• Fantasma/Cantos for clarinet and orchestra (1991), winner of the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.
• Quotation of Dream for two pianos and orchestra (1991)
• Fantasma/Cantos II for trombone and orchestra (1994)

Electronic and tape music

• Static Relief, magnetic tape (1955)
• Vocalism A・I, magnetic tape (1956)
• Water Music (1960)
• Kaidan (1964)

Chamber works

• Le Son Calligraphé I–III for four violins, two violas and two cellos (1958–1960)
• Ring for flute, terz guitar and lute (1961)
• Corona II for string(s) graphic work in collaboration with Kōhei Sugiura (1962)
• Arc for Strings graphic work (1963)
• Valeria for violin, cello, guitar, electric organ and two piccolos (1965)
• Eucalypts II for flute, oboe and harp (1971)
• In an Autumn Garden for gagaku orchestra (1973/1979)
• Garden Rain for brass ensemble (1974)
• Waves for clarinet, horn, two trombones and bass drum (1976)
• Quatrain II for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (1977)
• A Way a Lone for string quartet (1981)
• Rocking Mirror Daybreak for violin duo (1983)
• Signals from Heaven—two antiphonal fanfares for two brass groups (1987)

I Day Signal

II Night Signal

• And then I knew 'twas Wind for flute, viola and harp (1992)

Piano works

• Romance (1949)
• Lento in Due Movimenti (1950, unpublished/original lost—rewritten as Litany, 1989)
• Piano Distance (1961)
• Corona for pianist(s) graphic score (in collaboration with Kōhei Sugiura, 1962)
• Crossing graphic score (in collaboration with Kōhei Sugiura, 1962)
• For Away (1973)
• Les yeux clos (1979)
• Rain Tree Sketch (1982)
• Litany—In Memory of Michael Vyner recomposition of Lento in Due Movimenti (1950/1989)
• Rain Tree Sketch II—In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen (1992)

Guitar

• Folios (1974)
• 12 Songs for Guitar (1974, 1977)
• The Last Waltz (1983)
• A Boy Named HIROSHIMA (1987)
• All in Twilight – Four pieces for guitar - written for Julian Bream (1987)
• Bad Boy (1961, 1992)
• A Pieces for guitar – For the 60th birthday of Sylvano Bussotti - (1991)
• Equinox (1993)
• In the Woods – Three pieces for guitar - (1995)

Film scores

• Pitfall (Otoshiana), dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara (1962)
• Harakiri, dir. Masaki Kobayashi (1962)
• Woman in the Dunes, dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara (1964)
• Kaidan, dir. Masaki Kobayashi (1964)
• Assassination, dir. Masahiro Shinoda (1964)
• The Woman in the Dunes (1964)
• The Face of Another, dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara (1966)
• Samurai Rebellion, dir. Masaki Kobayashi (1967)
• Double Suicide, dir. Masahiro Shinoda (1969)
• Dodesukaden, dir. Akira Kurosawa (1970)
• Empire of Passion, dir. Nagisa Oshima (1978)
• Ran, dir. Akira Kurosawa (1985)
• Black Rain, dir. Shohei Imamura (1989)
• Rising Sun, dir. Philip Kaufman (1993)

Other instrumental

• Masque, for two flutes (1959, 1960)
• Eclipse, for biwa and shakuhachi (1966)
• Voice, (1971)
• Itinerant—In Memory of Isamu Noguchi, (1989)
• Paths, for solo trumpet (1994)
• Air (1995, last published work)