Musica che affronta il silenzio - Scritti su Toru Takemitsu - Pavia ...

152
Giangiorgio Pasqualotto
‘The task of the composer should begin with the recognition of the sounds themselves
rather than with concern about their function’ (Takemitsu 1995: 80). 2 In saying this
Takemitsu seems to want to go beyond the concept of music as the construction of sounds
in order to tap into a sort of ‘pure experience’ of sound. I would emphasise that the concept
of ‘pure experience’ is fundamental and wide-reaching in Japanese thought, although
Takemitsu is probably referring to it unconsciously. He intends not to deny the idea of music
as the construction of sounds, but to maintain that no aural construction can forego
considering sound first and foremost for its own sake, as a physical event. In other words,
for Tru Takemitsu the essence of music is not to be sought in the abstract, mathematical
conceptualization of the relations between the notes, but in the unlimited complexity of
sound itself: a single sound is a universe of practically boundless meanings. This must not,
however, be taken to mean that Takemitsu neglects, or less still ignores, the languages and
logical patterns devised, above all in the West, for in music notation. As Peter Burt has
shown, Takemitsu had not only studied them but also, for a considerable period of time,
worked within them. To my mind Takemitsu’s greatness lies precisely in this ambition to
grasp the essence of each and every type of music, irrespective of such distinctions as Eastern/Western
or rhythmic/melodic. At the same time he recognised the need to know and
possess the specific forms and techniques of musical composition. Or to put it the other
way round, he demonstrated his ability to master these forms and techniques, recalling how
they are inextricably rooted in a ‘pure experience’ of sound and silences prior to any
attempt at musical notation.
I intend to show how there is no opposition in Takemitsu’s work between the pure
experience of sound and an abstract experience drawing on the mathematical or linguistic
transposition of deliberately created sounds. First it is important to understand
how Japanese culture invariably refers to a profound dimension which precedes and
underpins every formalization.
This desire to go to the roots and source of music appears to be perfectly reflected in
the traditional Japanese belief that the fundamental goal of human life is not to produce
representations of things, facts and events, but rather to grasp their original vital matrix,
which precedes any description or classification relying on abstract concepts or systems. At
the same, however, this experience of the vital matrix is not set against the universes of
forms generated from it. Instead artists are careful to show the continuity between the forms
produced and that matrix which renders them possible.
To appreciate just how essential this continual reference to a dimension that grounds
and precedes every formalization is in traditional Japanese culture, we can refer to various
specific expressions of this culture, including religion, philosophy, painting, architecture,
and above all poetry.
2 Cit. in Burt (2001: 242).