Canon
Where to start with Takemitsu
Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles-
OrchestralNovember Steps, for shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra
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ChamberA Bird Came Down the Walk, for viola and piano
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VocalA Marvelous Kid, "Subarashii Akujo'; Theme Song for the Film 'Subarashii Akujo"
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StageBlack Rain — Film score
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KeyboardFor Away
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OrchestralRequiem, for string orchestra
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OrchestralA Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden
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VocalA Song of Circles and Triangles, "Maru to Sankaku no Uta"
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OrchestralA String around Autumn, for viola and orchestra
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ChamberA Way A Lone, for string quartet
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OrchestralA Way a Lone II, for string orchestra
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ChamberAir for solo flute
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OrchestralAki, for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra, "Autumn"
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VocalAll Alone, "Potsunen"
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ChamberAll in Twilight, 4 pieces for guitar
Listening guide
Hand-curated paths into Takemitsu's catalogueMost Popular
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November Steps (biwa, shakuhachi, orchestra)
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Requiem for Strings
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Rain Tree Sketch (piano)
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A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden
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Toward the Sea (alto flute + guitar)
Most Acclaimed
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A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden
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Quatrain (cello, clarinet, violin, piano + orchestra)
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How Slow the Wind
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Family Tree (narrator + orchestra)
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Green (November Steps II)
Most Weird
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November Stepsthe biwa and shakuhachi are not synchronized with the orchestra — they speak past it; Bernstein commissioned it; Takemitsu refused to have the Japanese instruments imitate the Western ones
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Autumn (biwa + shakuhachi)the two instruments speak to each other without resolving — they coexist without merging
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From Me Flows What You Call Time5 percussionists — each in a different color costume; the work is about time and flow
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Dream/Windoworchestra — dreamlike; his most extended orchestral meditation
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For Away (piano)single notes widely spaced — the silence between notes is as long as the notes
Similar composers
Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinityWorks 102
- Orchestral
- November Steps, for shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra
- Requiem, for string orchestra
- A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden
- A String around Autumn, for viola and orchestra
- A Way a Lone II, for string orchestra
- Aki, for biwa, shakuhachi, and orchestra, "Autumn"
- Archipelago S., for 21 players
- Asterism, for piano and orchestra
- Cassiopeia
- Dream/Window
- Dreamtime
- Eucalypts 1, for flute, oboe, harp, and strings
- Fantasma/Cantos 2, for trombone and orchestra
- From Me Flows What You Call Time, for 5 percussionists and orchestra
- Green For Orchestra
- How Slow the Wind
- I Hear the Water Dreaming, for flute and orchestra
- Nostalghia, for violin and strings
- Orion and Pleiades, for cello and orchestra
- Quatrain, for clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and orchestra
- Quotation of Dream: Say Sea, Take Me!, for 2 pianos and orchestra
- Rain Coming
- Riverrun, for piano and orchestra
- Solitude Sonore
- Spirit Garden
- Star Isle
- Toward the Sea no. 1, for alto flute and guitar
- Toward the Sea no. 2, for alto flute, harp and strings
- Tree Line, for chamber orchestra
- Twill by Twilight
- Chamber
- A Bird Came Down the Walk, for viola and piano
- A Way A Lone, for string quartet
- Air for solo flute
- All in Twilight, 4 pieces for guitar
- And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind, for flute, viola, and harp
- Between Tides, for violin, cello, and piano, SJ1091
- Bryce, for flute, 2 harps, and 2 percussionists
- Distance de fée, for violin and piano, SJ1050
- Distance, for oboe and sho ad lib
- Eclipse, for shakuhachi and biwa
- Elegy, for violin and piano
- Equinox, for guitar
- Eucalypts 2, for flute, oboe, and harp
- Folios, for guitar
- Garden Rain, for 10 brass instruments
- In an Autumn Garden, for gagaku ensemble
- In the Woods, 3 pieces for guitar
- Itinerant, for flute
- Landscape, for string quartet
- Le son calligraphié, for string octet
- Mori no naka de, for guitar
- Paths, for solo trumpet
- Rain Spell, for flute, clarinet, harp, piano, and vibraphone
- Rain-Tree, for 3 percussionists
- Rain-Tree, for 3 percussionists
- Ring, for flute, terzguitar, and lute
- Rocking Mirror Daybreak, for 2 violins
- Sacrifice, for alto flute, lute, vibraphone, and cymbals
- Seasons, for percussion ensemble
- Signals from Heaven, 2 antiphonal fantasies for brass ensemble
- Stanza 2, for harp and tape
- Tabi, for 3 biwa
- The Dorian Horizon, for 17 Strings
- The Last Waltz
- Toward the Sea I, for alto flute and guitar
- Toward the Sea III, for alto flute and harp
- Valeria, for 2 piccolos, violin, cello, guitar, and electric organ
- Voice, for solo flute
- Vocal
- A Marvelous Kid, "Subarashii Akujo'; Theme Song for the Film 'Subarashii Akujo"
- A Song of Circles and Triangles, "Maru to Sankaku no Uta"
- All Alone, "Potsunen"
- All that the Man Left Behind When He Died, "Shinda otoko no nokoshita mono wa"
- I Just Sing, "Utau dake"
- In a Small Room, "Chiisana Heya de"
- In the Month of March, "Sangatsu no uta'; Theme Song for the Film 'Saigo no Shinpan"
- La Neige, "Yuki'; theme song for the film 'Shiro to kuro"
- Sayonara
- Small Sky, "Chiisana Sora"
- Stanza I, for female voice, piano, guitar, harp, and vibraphone
- Take off for the Clouds, "Kumo ni mukatte tatsu'; for the TV Drama 'Kumo ni mukatte tatsu"
- The Encounter, "Meguriai'; Theme Song for the Film 'Meguriai"
- The Game of Love, "Koi no kakurembo"
- To the Island, "Shima e"
- Unseen Child, "Mienai Kodomo"
- Waltz, "Warutsu'; Theme Song for the Film 'Tanin no kao"
- Will Tomorrow, I Wonder, Be Cloudy or Clear?, "Ashita ha hare kana, kumori kana"
- Wings, "Tsubasa"
- Yesterday's Spot, "Sakujitsu no shimi"
- Stage
- Black Rain — Film score
- Face of Another — Film score
- Glowing Autumn — Film score
- José Torres — Film score
- Nami no Bon
- Ran — Film score
- Keyboard
- For Away
- Lento in 2 Movements
- Les Yeux Clos
- Litany: in Memory of Michael Vyner
- Piano Distance
- Piano Pieces for Children
- Romance
- Uninterrupted Rest