A
sampler of contemporary Japanese music, and other related matters.
The
following passages are part of the conversation between Nurtan and myself
regarding the seven Japanese pieces placed on G+ from the end of April into
early May. The first part of the blog has links to the seven works and a short
commentary which “breaks the ice” to entice the listener to part with a little
of his or her time.
Hiroaki
Minami: Electronic Symphony No. 1
written
in response to the death of his daughter. Looking back on electronic music of
the 1950's and 60's it is inevitable that we hear clichés, the medium with its
lack of technology ensured that getting distinctive sounds was difficult. To
make the music expressive is a greater challenge again but this work manages to
not only express emotion but the most difficult of emotional states. The
density of the music increases throughout and with it our emotional response.
Litany
pour Fuji
Akira Miyoshi's
music like that by Joji Yuasa is rich in textural changes but the musical
language is closer to the human emotional states of fear, anticipation and
uncertainty. The orchestration sometimes reminds me of Stravinsky and the
melodic strands of Varese. At times the music could be taken as film
music so strong are the associations that the music invokes in the listener.
Music and mountains together makes me think of Hovhaness, and in some ways they
are not a million miles apart. Like so many Japanese art prints nature is a
major concern, and while not dominating the music its presence is felt.
Akira
Nishimura - Mirror of stars
Harmonically
enticing, beautifully spaced chords. The staccato repeated note change
surprises us, especially as it is followed by a return to the opening style. We
are set up for a play between textures and the tension of waiting for these
drives the music onward. What is astonishing is how short the interjections can
be and how alien they feel to the homophonic material. Recently I saw a
ladybird flying onto a blade of grass, there were a million green leaves and
one tiny splash of bright red. I wondered how to represent this in music, and
this piece does it very well.
Hikaru
Hayashi: Concerto for viola and strings "Elegia" (1995)
Influenced
by Western values? Elegies by Elgar and Bridge are well known, and
listeners who are familiar with them cannot fail to identify with the tone and
mood of this work. At times is seems to be using a similar language but as the
work progresses there are moments in which the Japanese character emerges
(21.30). The emotional range is wide, sometimes subdued sometimes impassioned.
The narrative always seems to be first person. It is of little surprise that
the composer had a strong interest in opera and wrote film scores as the music
communicates easily and effectively the tensions of human passions.
Joji
Yuasa: Territory (1974)
This is
one accomplished musician, highly respected by academics and practical music
makers. Territory gives us an idea why this is the case. Brilliant textures
with instruments subtly emerging from previous sonorities. The flute
sounds in particular give an authentic Japanese quality to the music. I hear
bamboo and wood and natural sounds here adding colour to an intellectual
design. One of the joys of this work is that the textures are unpredictable but
never outlandishly so, the changes of rhythm and pulse are always easy on the
ear.
Toshio
Hosokawa - Vertical songs I. for flute solo (or recorder)
The blend
of voice and recorder makes a wonderful and natural pairing. The musical
gestures are events framed in silence and near silence. Once again I find
myself making associations with the natural world, but this is no pretty
depiction but cutting and aggressive drama where rapid actions follow moments
of tense anticipation.
I find
that the rapidity of events within a short duration gives the work a different
outlook on time, the seven minutes is over quickly but there are moments in
which everything is remarkably still. I would love to see a dancer interpret
the music!
Minoru
Miki - Marimba Spiritual
I first
heard this in a performance by Evelyn Glennie, but I am more than happy with
this brilliant and dramatic performance. The opening is an exploration,
widening out the scope of the marimba, and then that curious little rhythm
begins to establish itself. While the other percussionists mark out the
phrases, short sequences begin to drive the music forward and then we are under
way gradually moving from broken phrases into a continuity of action. From 7.00
onwards it is a fast ride with a superb ending.
The
following is Nurtan's response to the works shared on G+
Another
pair of ears.
I wrote
this entry several times over and revised it many times it was bordering on
ridiculous. I went to a concert last night and on the return trip home, it
became very clear what I wanted to say and missed the point in all these
earlier revisions. I shall keep the original introduction for a birds eye view
came up and go from there.
I will
start with a confession that I know very little about so called ''Eastern''
music and I usually listen to music with Western ears – well almost because I
like to listen to Turkish/Greek/Anatolian music. I am a little more familiar
with the Indian music than Japanese music. It is a marker that makes me a naive
listener who is tied pretty closely to another sound world. I know some of the
works of only three Japanese composers: Toru Takemitsu, Kosaku Yamada and
Minoru Miki and not very extensively at that. All three blend East and West but
mostly in the Western idiom. I liked most of whatever Eastern music I
heard, but only by chance encounters. I justified this lack of curiosity by ''I
am both heavily committed and busy enough not to seek more of it.” Therefore I
have to excuse my naiveté by ars longa Vita brevis.
Ken has
selected a varied collection of modern pieces, probably as comprehensive in its
coverage as any seven reasonably short pieces one can chose. I enjoyed
listening to the seven pieces; each is beautiful in its design, sonorities and
appeal. Hearing these pieces and thinking about them made me think that these
contained the conflicts, sonorities, similarities and differences contained in
any seven pieces you choose and listen to from the catalogue of Debussy,
Bartok, Malcolm Arnold, Berio, Ligetti, Beatles, Jerry Garcia, Saygun,
Shostakovich, Gorecki, Getz, Coltrain, Stockhausen, Bernstein or Boulez. In
fact, the entire "Western music" literature of the 20/21st
century is as varied and different within as it is the same and different
between "Eastern music". We cannot explain the sonorities contained
within Schoenberg's 2nd string quartet by the sonorities in
Debussy’s ''Le Martyre de
saint Sébastien'' or Joji Yuasa's ‘‘Territory’’ nor can we dismiss the
similarities between them.
There is
considerable amount of Milton Babbitt sonorities or Richard Strauss' ''Tod und
Verklarung'' musical elements in Hiroaki Minami's ''Sorrow Songs the Stars
sang'' and it also shares an amazing amount with my ''Quiet Sorrow''. The three
composition mentioned are very closely related and similar but they are nothing
like each other. Similarly, no one in his/her right mind would argue that any
of the seven Japanese examples are a derivative of ''Le Martyre'' or ''Tod und
Verklarung''
One might
argue that there are several levels of listening to music. One might listen to
and carefully to understand the musical structure of a piece, or listen for the
sonorities that build the sound world of the composition. One might seek a
psychologically determined reaction to the musical content or simply enjoy the
technical complexity or simplicity of a piece or a passage.
After
several hearings of the work one might, aided by recall start to listen to all
of these factors simultaneously. The performers are analysed by the same
factors and additional unquantifiable factors such as phrasing, appropriate
rubato, tempi etc. One thing clearly obvious is that any one factor cannot be
considered superior to any other factor by any kind of logic or data. In the
enjoyment of listening to music one individually reacts pleasurably or finds the
musical experience within his/her expectation criteria of enjoyable. One may
argue that listening experience is not a constant and can change more or less
arbitrarily. Therefore, the appeal of the music is judged in a very personal
manner.
I don't
believe that there is cross-cultural data on music listening and enjoyment; not
even at a simple interview based research on the factors which influence a
person to like or dislike a musical piece (as rigorous research this would be a
bad idea). With that in mind we can argue logically why the enjoyment of art
might have a commonality. From a physiological point of view, the sound
reception and perception is universally the same even though it might differ in
acuity by age (young hear better) and by some cultural or life style influences
(quiet surroundings lead to better hearing). In all brain scanning or other
neurologic investigations (some we reported) an origin or nationality based
difference has not been observed. This suggests that the stimuli we receive are
the stimuli we perceive irrespective of what our origin might be. The technical
understanding and comparative statements are universally based on the data
received and perceived, tempered, or judged by the listener's knowledge and
preferences. There is likely to be cultural differences in how we process the
perceived stimuli as likes and dislikes; this probably has a strong influence
on our ''preferences''. This offers an explanation on the universality of music
as well as how similar very different music can be.
I don't
know what fraction of listeners listen to music passionately or which would be
more strongly influenced by culturally learned experiences or which would be
more strongly influenced by the technical knowledge of music. One is not
superior to the other and the lack of technical knowledge does not necessarily
diminish the enjoyment. I believe that a person who listens to music
passionately or dispassionately or both has a huge universe to enjoy. The
judgement of a piece can only be in multiple levels such as technically
superior or flawed, interesting or boring, etc.
Last
night I heard a magnificent performance of Britten's ''Sinfonia da Requiem'',
Strauss' ''Tod und Verklarung'' and Elgar's ''Enigma Variations'' by Chicago
Symphony Orchestra. On the return journey home I thought about these three
pieces and the seven Japanese pieces. The answer to my question was crystal
clear. At least, fully at the technical and partially at the passionate level.
Ken: In getting to point where Nurtan posted that reply we had
shared e-mails on the blogs including the topic of what makes some music
difficult. In considering difficulties it was quite natural that the cultural
aspect should arise.
This
particular link is being shared via the blog and is new to Nurtan, it has
a junior school style of presentation but it is both useful and
clear:
The
following was shared by e-mail and considered the shared
heritage which influenced Western views of Japan.
The drip feed of culture from the East:
You say that you are less familiar with oriental art, and
that is a statement with which I can sympathise, but I think that both you and
I have familiarities with Japanese art as a result of its influence in other
art forms. Let’s remind ourselves of some basic facts that visitors to
the grand houses of the National Trust would be all too aware of (I know it is
a charity that delights visitors from the USA – I watched an aunt from NY
visiting a local attraction, Erddig, with a dropped jaw expression that stayed
with her for hours).
Collecting Chinese and Japanese artefacts was popular in
the UK from the 17th century onwards. Finding examples of Porcelain,
lacquered cabinets, screens, tables and tea services with an Eastern quality
seemed to be a part of my life from my teens onwards. TV shared its part in
educating me about such matters with the Antiques Roadshow regularly
introducing us to everything from armour to bamboo flutes.
Most of us are aware of the restrictions on trade with
Japan for a number of years, the embargo or isolation period (a better
description) came to an end around 1854 (The Convention of Kanagawa). The
situation with China was more fluid, there being some trade with the English
East India Company, but the Treaty of Nanking opened doors not just to trade
but to the interest in art objects. The culmination of this interest came
in 1862 with the Great London Exposition, where both Chinese and Japanese arts
and crafts were represented.
The influence of Japan on artists was felt in two distinct
ways, Whistler and Degas studied Japanese art works for their style and form
while other artists – like Monet represented oriental objects as part of their
own paintings. This has little difference to the cultured collection in stately
homes of screens and the like without great thought for integration.
Degas, mentioned above, makes use of space in his works in
a way that we now identify as belonging to the mind-set of japonisme,
this is to us more interesting than the inclusion of chrysanthemums as an
indicator of influence. There are other indicators of Japanese influence on 19th
century art, tilted perspectives are popular, but these don’t transfer into
musical perspectives. We are both familiar with Haiku poetry, I think it
fairer to say that we both love this style, but it came as a surprise to me to
find out that Japanese poetry was very closely associated with Chinese poetry
in its earlier history:
Much of the literary record of
Japanese poetry begins when Japanese poets encountered Chinese poetry during
the Tang Dynasty. Under the influence of the Chinese poets of this era Japanese
began to compose poetry in Chinese (kanshi); and, as part of this tradition,
poetry in Japan tended to be intimately associated with pictorial painting,
partly because of the influence of Chinese arts, and the tradition of the use
of ink and brush for both writing and drawing.
This
short extract from Wiki is interesting to me because of the association of
calligraphy and drawing and the way that they are integrated. I suppose that
could take us to Cage, but let’s not jump the gun.
I am sure
now that I have started this trawl through Eastern influences that you will
come back with more illustrations of the same. I look forward to reading
some.
Maternal
Caress: Mary Cassat
It is
difficult to work out how many people listened to the music placed on G+, some
indicated their pleasure with a + and the usual small group added supportive
comments, Giorgio shared with me a work which he came across that was new to
me, thank you.
D. LO - MUSIC FOR A STARRY NIGHT...
[für Ensemble, 2015]
If you
have found Japanese music that has excited, puzzled or delighted you why not
share it?
You may
do so by responding to this blog or simply place a link to the work on the G+
pages.
It has
occurred to me on several occasions that the notion of craftsmanship is strong
in Japanese music; one should say the same of all serious music despite its
ethnic origins. ‘Craftsmanship’ isn’t a term that appears regularly in writing
about Western music, a composer like Frank Bridge stands out as one nominated
in this way and I can think of reasons for why Bridge carries this distinction,
both good and bad. Perhaps a reader with greater familiarity with Japanese
culture might like to help me out with this thought.
Japanese aesthetics (2)
For me the study of Japanese aesthetics has much to offer the
Western composer, though at first the qualities may seem more appropriate to
art, architecture and writing, particularly in the form of poetry. I hope the following points illustrate how much we can still benefit from Japanese aesthetics even if they often seem contrary to the interests of European composers.
Japanese philosophy understands reality as constant change,
to Buddhists change is impermanence. The arts in Japan traditionally
reflect this. In the Japanese Buddhist tradition, awareness of impermanence
brings about action and the appreciation of each moment of awareness and life.
This is beautifully told in the following short tale:
The Monk, Tigers, Mice and the Strawberry
A monk was walking
through the jungle when he saw that he was being chased by a tiger. The monk
fled with the tiger close behind, then he realised he had come to the edge of a
cliff. As he looked back, he saw that the tiger was getting closer.
Hanging over the edge was a thick vine, so the monk took the vine and began
lowering himself over the cliff. He looked down and, far below a second tiger
prowled.
Two mice began to gnaw at the vine. The monk saw a wild strawberry plant was
growing within hand’s reach. He picked a ripe strawberry, it was delicious!
Impermanence is seen as being beautiful, hence the Japanese love
of cherry blossom which usually falls from the tree within a week of appearing.
Music in the form of improvisation should capture this quality, and with the
characteristics of Iki, knowing the formation of elegant shapes, scales, chords
and melodic formations, one should aim to produce music of delicate quality.
In addition to the values outlined in the chart there is the
concept of the “cut”, (kire)
or, “cut-continuity” (kire-tsuzuki).
This device is highlighted in the Haiku poem where the alteration of viewpoint
is a key element:
In the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued hibiscus -
A lovely sunset
- Matsuo Bashō
Should
you wish to spend a little additional time with these concepts this mid-length
article offers a good starting point:
As the summer has arrived
and it is a period for relaxation and a suitable time for contemplation I
turned my mind to a simple musical game, could I identify qualities from the
Japanese aesthetics in a given period of music? It didn’t take long to decide
that French Impressionism would provide a wealth of possibilities, here are
some suggestions:
Wabi-sabi: Debussy’s
“Voiles”, natural, subtle; “Des pas sur la neige” tranquillity, and “Nuages”
for transience. My wife takes a different viewpoint and suggests that Satie is
a more likely candidate, particularly “Parade”, I see her point of view.
Miyabi: Ravel’s “Tombeau de Couperin” for refinement and awareness
of transience.
Shibui: Ravel Concerto in G major for the balance of simplicity
and complexity.
Iki: Debussy “La fille aux cheveux de lin” for refinement
(personal attributes), and “Le sons et les parfums…. for sophistication,
complexity and intricacy.
Yūgen: Debussy “La Cathédrale engloutie”, “Danseuses de Delphes” and Ravel’s “Valse
nobles et sentimentales”.
Geidō: With Ravel being described
by Stravinsky as the “Swiss watchmaker” it is natural to include him in respect
of tradition and craftsmanship, the “Sonatine” perfectly represents this quality.
Jo-ha-kyū: This aspect is
less well represented, but if one takes the Ravel “Bolero” as beginning
quietly, then being intensified and then “cut” it acts in several respects as a
mirror to this quality.
Ensō: The universal may be
represented by Debussy’s “La Mer”, but for me the final movement of R. V.
Williams “Sea Symphony” reflects this quality, particularly in the final bars
as they approach eternal silence.
I am sure that others will
come up with equally good ideas regarding this topic, perhaps better examples,
and examples from different composers and periods. However one feels about these
comparisons the process of making associations is useful in consolidating the
characteristics of two different cultures. As we have seen in previous blogs on
this topic Japanese influences on the French were particularly strong in the
late 19th and early
20th
centuries, so the connections are relevant to the art and furniture of the
period. Little seems to be made of this in English writing on French music,
perhaps those who read French articles might direct me to sources on this
subject.
Takemitsu
"Les Yeux Clos II"
Odilon
Redon painted a series of works on the theme "Les Yeux
Clos" in 1890, he says that the images were made with the most
diluted paint, making the subject, the face of his wife, near transparent on
the canvas. When Takemitsu took the same title he worked his music with a
clarity of texture that approached Redon's ideal.
The pitch
content is primarily driven by the use of a limited mode (of eight pitches) in
its 3 transpositions. The modes are shown below as pitch classes where C =0
M1:
0,1,3,4,6,7,9,10
M2:
1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11
M3:
0,2,3,5,6,8,9,11
There are
phrases where a single note or pair of notes lie outside the mode, usually as a
dissonance to a surrounding phrase. Once the sound of the mode is
familiar to the listener the music is easily heard as being
derived from it, and the pitches outside the mode are never destructive to its
character. One of the most apparent features of the mode is the pairing of
semitones, and the tension created by the use of semitones is heard from the
outset in "Les Yeux Clos II". The following manuscript lays out the main harmonic concerns that reveal themselves in the course of the music.
Here all
the material is taken from M1 and forms two layers, the upper part is the open
fifth on C'/G', a tolling bell figure in keeping with the title. The use of the
open fifth is kept for this figure to highlight its importance to the concept
of the music. The middle texture is built from a pair of semitones, C/D
flat and F'/G, so the C/G forms a transposed fifth at the semitone, and a pair
of augmented fourths a semitone apart C/F' and D flat/G. The augmented fourths
are also present in the bass as B flat/E, E flat A. These formations are heard
throughout the work, and make the form of the composition clear. The semitone
dissonance is a vital element in the drama of the music, and is only diminished
in importance in the closing bars where the tensions, particularly of the
central section, are released.
The
opening five bars act as an introduction to the work as a whole and the
remaining sections are clear and simple to distinguish.
In the
second section the chord passages become a major feature, these form a
continuous chain of collections formed from a perfect fourth in combination
with an augmented fourth, the latter in the bass, the tetrachords are added to
by a semitone or tone dissonance to form a pentachord when desired, the
placement of the additional note depending on the linear material surrounding
the chords.
There is
a strong connection in these chords to passages in Impressionist music,
enhanced by the simple contours shaped by the chords which contrast with the
widely spaced figures which decorate the music.
The music
of "Les Yeux Clos II" forms three distinct layers, the
chords, the rapid figures and the slowly evolving melodic strands, often
having repeated material. The following example breaks down one of the rapid
figures to show the use of the mode, three inks are used to clarify their
use. One pitch lies outside the mode marked in red where it forms a
semitone cluster.
The
melodic element has already been introduced in bar 4 and the close of bar 6,
but plays a more extensive role from the next section starting at bar 11.
Repetition
plays a more prominent role here, particularly in bars 11 to 19 . The example
given below is taken from one of the long measures, bar 13, where the music is
based on the M3. The 'melodic' character is introduced by a three pitch
figure on G' B (repeated) F, passing through two superimposed four note figures
(x and y) to a five note group (z) where the augmented fourth/ perfect fifth
collection is heard. Figure y, the lower melodic shape is given prominence in
bar 18 where it is heard on its own.
From bar
19 we have the fourth section where the music becomes more vertically dense
though the melodic character is sustained. At 19 selected pitches are
articulated by the use of octaves and repetition, opening with B flat , A, B
flat and a long held C sharp (M1). By the long measure at 27 this has extended
to B flat, C (repeated) C' E , again repeated with a final F', all harmonised
by M1 with the exception of two pitches which form an augmented fourth pair in
the upper parts. The pitch collection forming the melody continues through bar
28, another extended measure. It is not surprising to hear that these
long measures contain a high degree of coherence by either interval
construction, repetition or rhythmic design. This way Takemitsu composes
localised groups of similarities within the whole structure, sometimes made
wholly clear by larger scale repetition.
Bar 31 is
a softer repeat of 30 and marks the end of the section.
The fifth
is the final part with a short coda to close. The passage can be heard as a
reworking of the A section, where the music is increasingly refined.
Though the material is clearly from the opening Takemitsu brings in the theme
from bars 27 and 28 into the texture, both the first bar material and this
theme are M1 based. Only as we get to these closing measures do we become fully
aware of how the decorative figures have disappeared leaving this calm and
static close. The life of the music has ebbed so progressively that the
conclusion is both inevitable and natural.
Art v architecture.
The music of Takemitsu.
There is
no shortage of commentaries on Takemitsu's music, and there is a great deal of
agreement on the main issues. For this reason the blog will restrict
itself to matters of interest for composers and the general listener of
contemporary music.
Takemitsu's music does not conform to principles
of strict organisation. Some would see this as Takemitsu taking more of a craftsman's role in his
approach than an architect, or as the music historians would have us
understand, a gardener who places his timbres and phrases with an eye for
balance of colour and form. For those who enjoy gardening (like my wife)
there is a need to form collections or groups of plants in groups, as singular
plants are easily lost, having heard this stated throughout my life I shall
take it as gospel! If the metaphor holds one should hear collections of
phrases of similar material with spaces to articulate the design of the garden,
much as seen in the image below.
There are
early works which make use chance elements and as such fall outside the
restricted and ordered world of modality, these include "Ring" 1961,
"Corona" 1962, and "Dorian Horizon" 1966. There
is a recording of "Corona" by Roger Woodward which demonstrates admirably
the contrast between control and freedom in Takemitsu's hands. There is no You
Tube video of this, the Jim O’ Rourke version is more restrained with the drone
/ improvisation contrast discussed in previous blogs more apparent.
Images
of the graphic scores, those I have been able to find, show an artistic economy
of line and space with some musical indicators to provide recurring motifs or approximations
of motifs.
The modal
interest which is the main concern of these articles can be heard from the
earliest works, "Green" contrasts dissonant music and gentle
modality. That description underplays the range of expression in the music
where he first impression one gets is the influence of Messiaen, bird song
included. Repeated hearings bring out a wealth of detail which eventually
binds into a stream of continuous lyricism behind the orchestral fragmentation.
Reading
about Takemitsu's early life there was an appear in the lyrical quality of
popular songs heard on the radio, and there are biographical indications that
Takemitsu regularly sang through his musical ideas whilst involved in their
creation. The distillation of sounds in the final minute of the work is
masterful in its economy. The recording with Knussen is available on You
Tube, where it has received less than a hundred views at this time!
The use
of modality becomes increasingly refined throughout his artistic life, with age
there is refinement of style and simplicity. The restrictions placed on the use
of modes will be illustrated with examples from Les Yeux Clos II (1988).
There is a score with this music so readers may follow up in greater
detail the ideas presented here.
Takemitsu's
music makes use of a wide range of techniques of organisation, modes,
counterpoint, and repetition in abundance, all of which gives a clarity to the
music which makes it immediately accessible. If we recall the chordal progression discussed earlier from
Les Yeux Clos II one can hear that the motion is simple, parallel perfect and augmented fourths spiced with a semitone
dissonance, the result is a series of closely related chords lacking the rigidity of serial music, but beautiful and clearly distinct as a unit for
repetition and development in the work as a whole.
Analysts
have found several methods of working around the inexact placement of notes
chords and sections including reasonable percentage levels of accuracy on one
hand and non-musical accounts on the other. Perhaps the best indicator of
use for inexperienced composers is that Takemitsu reserves the right to add and
subtract notes from collections as he pleases; the antithesis of serial
approaches, and perhaps a reaction against slavish imitation, which would be
frowned upon in the Tao!
For the
composers reading this blog the association between Cage and Takemitsu requires
comment, though I will try and keep the Zen references to the minimum (despite
the fact that both Nurtan and I have some interest in this philosophy /
religion). For me the most important musical influence lies as much in Taoism
as Zen, the balance of forces in Ying and Yang, and where there is balance, the
tension created between the two extremes. It may have been Cage that made
Takemitsu aware of the musical importance of silence, but in Japanese culture
the philosophical theory would be well understood. While silence is a
feature of Takemitsu's thinking, sustained and dying sounds (decrescendo) are
most significant, particularly in the piano works where the pedal is of
considerable importance. These long ‘pauses’ are useful for shaping the
composition by breaking the music into short paragraphs of evolving textures,
they also permit intense and complex figures to be heard and musically
"examined" by the listener.
The
movement of parallel chords and similar sounding chords is familiar to any
audience of jazz music particularly from Oscar Peterson onwards, and it is of
little surprise that Takemitsu experienced and enjoyed the sounds of jazz from
an early age. Add to the mix his fondness for the music of Debussy,
Faure, Frank and most importantly Messiaen, one has no difficulty relating his
‘modern’ textures to these roots.
As
stated, the clarity and simplicity of Takemitsu's style becomes ever more
apparent in his late period, Nostalghia is one of the most accessible of his
late works. Before listening to the recording play the 0,1,4,5,8,9
hexachord and get the sound of the superimposed augmented triads in your head (use
C natural for 0) and the music becomes remarkably clear to follow.
The music
is a reflection on a film by Tarkovsky of the same name, there are two short
clips of the film available on YouTube which speak volumes about pace, dwelling
on a moment in time and the tension created between sounds.
The
symbolism in the second clip of making the journey with a candle without its
being extinguished may be comprehended by a practitioner of Zen as being
similar to the task of reaching for a goal (enlightenment) in which the
achievement results in the death of self. The use of Verdi’s music at the final
moment is as chilling as it is beautiful. It is of little wonder that
Takemitsu wanted to write a musical commentary on this remarkable film.
Of the
modes used by the composer the octatonic mode (2nd mode of limited transposition) occurs with
some frequency, as does the sixth; (in Forte's
classification the two modes are 8-25 0,1,2,4,6,7,8,10 and 8-28
0,1,3,4,6,7,9,10). One characteristic of both modes is that the regularity
of spacing prevents those hierarchical references found in tonal music, as a
result the music can create a sense of stillness, valuable to his creation of
contrast between paragraphs of music. There is no naivety in his use of
these modes, the placement of notes show both an awareness of articulating
localised harmonic areas and creating tension by voicing the progression of
individual phrases.
The
self-imposed restriction of a thousand words for these blogs means that a
number of beautiful and remarkable extracts have been passed over, but I hope
that the blog has opened a window on Takemitsu’s method and philosophy. Most of
all as a guide to younger composers one should take away two ideas, firstly
that exact and rigorous control is not an absolute necessity, and secondly the
old adage “be true to yourself” is an essential part of the creative process,
even if it isn’t taught on academic courses.
