Coral Island

Toru Takemitsu - Coral Island

Toru Takemitsu is one of the best known of the younger group of Japanese composers, his works having been performed widely not only in his native country but also in Europe and in the United States. "I consider him to be one of the outstanding composers of our time," wrote Aaron Copland after a visit to Tokyo in September 1966. "Takemitsu possesses a vivid aural imagination uniquely his own. His music combines a personal sensitivity with a sophisticated and thoroughly contemporary musical technique." Among his recent works is "November Steps" which was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic as part of the celebration of its 125th anniversary.

Born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930, Takemitsu began his composition studies in 1948; as for teachers, Yosuji Kiyose is listed in official biographies, but when questioned by Edward Downes, program annotator for the New York Philharmonic, Takemitsu replied that his teacher is "this daily life, including all of music and nature." He has been strongly influenced by Debussy, Varese and Webern as well as by the traditional music of his own country, and among living composers who interest him especially are John Cage, Yannis Xenakis, Roger Reynolds, Yuji Takahashi and Toshi Ichiyanagi. Since early in his career Takemitsu has been in the forefront of the avant-garde movement, and in Tokyo in 1951 with Toshiro Mayuzumi and others of his generation he organized the Experimental Laboratory, with the aim of combining traditional Japanese music with modern serial techniques. Takemitsu's own catalog includes three electronic works in addition to orchestral works, chamber music and film music.

CORAL ISLAND

Composed in 1962, this work consists of five parts, in two of which the soprano sings poems by Makoto Ohka. It is a composition concerned with the relationship between the forces of reality and the abstract in both life and music. It is a kaleidoscope of coloristic images in word and sound.

WATER MUSIC

Of this work Takemitsu has written as follows: "When I see and listen to flowing water it reminds me of an old Japanese word, Tao [Chinese religion-philosophy Taoism]. I may have received some influence from Voltaire's thought. My image of tao [road] is not a continuous road but just many dots."

The work was composed in 1960 with a musique concrete method by Takemitsu and a recording engineer, Junosuke Okuyama. All sound elements are sounds of water drops. Each water-drop sound is changed and given rhythm by manipulating the recorder. "Water Music" was composed on a tape and then arranged into stereophonic sound. Listeners will experience a poetic feeling of stillness, motion, space and time. These spaces and times are not the same as those in physics. They are rhythm of nature and time of mind.

VOCALISM AI (Love)

A 72-hour tape-montage of ai (a Japanese word meaning love) has been condensed into a 4-minute 9-second Ai. The sound elements are the voices of one woman and one man. They repeat ai many times in different pronunciations, with various intonations and different speeds. The work was composed on a tape by manipulating the recorder and using a montage method. (liner notes)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Coral Island {16:22}

performers: Mutsumi Masuda - soprano; Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Hiroshi Wakasugi - conductor

Side 2

1. Water Music {9:40}

2. Vocalism Ai (Love) {4:05}

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