Takemitsu: Masque, "Continu"

Tōru Takemitsu (8 October 1930 – 20 February 1996) was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre.He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.

During his time with Jikken Kōbō, Takemitsu came into contact with the experimental work of John Cage; but 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, for example in the graphic scores of Ring (1961), Corona for pianist(s) and Corona II for string(s) (both 1962). In these works each performer is presented with cards printed with coloured circular patterns which are freely arranged by the performer to create "the score".

𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 "𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦", 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 "𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦" 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

Takemitsu incorporated some idiomatic elements of Japanese music in his very earliest works, perhaps unconsciously. One unpublished set of pieces, Kakehi ("Conduit"), written at the age of seventeen, incorporates the ryō, ritsu and insen scales throughout. When Takemitsu discovered that these "nationalist" elements had somehow found their way into his music, he was so alarmed that he later destroyed the works. Further examples can be seen for example in the quarter-tone glissandi of Masques I (for two flutes, 1959), which mirror the characteristic pitch bends of the shakuhachi, and for which he devised his own unique notation: a held note is tied to an enharmonic spelling of the same pitch class, with a portamento direction across the tie.

Timestamps:
0:00 Portrait
0:01 Masque, "Continu"

Written by Tōru Takemitsu in August 1959
For 2 flutes
Flute 1 Maria Fedotova
Flute 2 Nikolai Mokhov

Audio source:
   • Toru Takemitsu MASQUE for two flutes