The Music of Toru Takemitsu

by Peter Burt

Overview

This book is the first complete study in English of the work of the best-known Japanese composer of the twentieth century. It is also the first book in this language to offer an in-depth analysis of his music. Tōru Takemitsu's works are increasingly popular with Western audiences and Peter Burt attempts for the first time to shed light on the hitherto rather secretive world of his working methods, as well as place him in context as heir to the rich tradition of Japanese composition in the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521026956
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Series:	Music in the Twentieth Century , #14
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.65(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Peter Burt is Vice-Chairman of the Takemitsu Society in the United Kingdom and editor of the Takemitsu Society Newsletter.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Notes on conventions; Introduction; 1. Pre-history: how Western music came to Japan; 2. Music and 'pre-music': Takemitsu's early years; 3. Experimental workshop: the years of Jikken Kobo; 4. The Requiem and its reception; 5. Projections onto a Western mirror; 6. 'Cage shock' and after; 7. Projections onto an Eastern mirror; 8. Modernist apogee: the early 1970s; 9. Descent into the pentagonal garden; 10. Towards the sea of tonality: the works of the 1980s; 11. Beyond the far calls: the final years; 12. Swimming in the ocean that has no West or East; Notes; List of Takemitsu's work; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Burt's work is a model of modernistic clarity, it is limited in scope and chronological in organization; its parts are clearly articulated, and its language is translucent." CHOICE

From the Publisher