Composer(s): Takemitsu, Tōru
Artist(s): Fukuma, Kotaro
Label: Naxos
Series: Japanese Classics
Genre: Instrumental
Period: 20th Century
Catalogue No: 8.570261
Barcode: 0747313026173
Release Date: 09/2007

TAKEMITSU: Piano Music

Now regarded as one of the most important composers of the second half of the twentieth century, Toru Takemitsu was the first Japanese composer to gain international status. This selection of his piano music, extending over 43 years, offers an inclusive overview of his stylistic development from Romance (1949), the nineteen-year-old composer’s earliest surviving piano work, to the hypnotic Rain Tree Sketch II (1992), Takemitsu’s last work for solo piano. The music ranges widely in style from Pause ininterrompue (Uninterrupted rest) (1952-59), which shows the influence of Debussy, Scriabin and Messiaen, and the aleatoric Piano Distance (1961), to the nocturnal and meditative For Away (1973) inspired by Indonesian gamelan music.

Tracklist

Takemitsu, Tōru
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
1 Romance 04:15
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
2 I. Adagio 04:27
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
3 II. Lento misteriosamente 04:45
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
4 I. Slowly, sadly and as if to converse with 01:56
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
5 II. Quietly and with a cruel reverberation 03:06
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
6 III. A song of love 01:18
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
7 Piano Distance 04:16
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
8 For away 06:51
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
9 Les yeux clos 06:17
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
10 Les yeux clos II 06:44
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
11 Rain Tree Sketch 03:35
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
12 Ame no ki sobyo II (Rain Tree Sketch II), "In memoriam Olivier Messiaen" 04:11
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
13 No. 1. Breeze 00:49
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
14 No. 2. Clouds 01:37
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
15 I. Adagio 04:37
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)
16 II. Lento misterioso 05:12
Fukuma, Kotaro (piano)

Total Playing Time: 01:03:56