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

Music Facing Up to Silence. Writings on Tru Takemitsu
1957, had practically vanished into oblivion). 2 In a Japanese account published in 1959 of
Stravinsky’s visit to Tokyo we learn that, after listening to Takemitsu’s Requiem, the grand
old man of European music said: ‘This is good music, a very impressive and intense music’.
3 In all likelihood Stravinsky’s appreciation of the Requiem derived from some sort of
self-recognition on account of their joint affinity with Debussy, whose music is so evident
in the harmonic colouring of the Requiem. (At the same time one cannot exclude the relevance
of some explicit allusions to compositional procedures typical of the Second
Viennese School – such as mirroring effects and inversions – which Stravinsky himself had
experimented with in the second half of the 1950s).
The circumstances of this favourable ‘meeting’, which for Takemitsu constituted a
notable testimonial for his future success, have been described in many accounts written
by and on Takemitsu. One of the most detailed firsthand accounts is to be found in an
interview he gave in 1988, which contains precious information on his contemporary
tastes and further contacts with the Western avant-gardes:
The Requiem for Strings. [Stravinsky] heard it by accident because, when he was
in Tokyo [...] he asked to listen new Japanese music. The radio stations arranged
it. My music was not supposed to be played, but by chance someone played some
and Stravinsky said, ‘Please, keep going’. He listened to my music along with
many other pieces. After that he had a press conference and he mentioned only my
name. Then he invited me to lunch. I was nervous because he is such a great master.
Even at that time I didn’t like his music so much, though of course I had great
respect for it – and he is such a great orchestrator. Anyway, I met him. First impression:
we shook hands.... his hand... so big, and very soft, like marshmallow.
For me, it is unforgettable. After that he returned to the United States and perhaps
he spoke about my music to Aaron Copland or something, so I got a commission
from the Koussevitsky Foundation. Then I wrote a piece called Dorian Horizon.
(Takemitsu 1989b: 206-207) 4
The work Takemitsu refers to, composed in 1964 and published in 1966, had its first
performance in 1967 in San Francisco, with Copland conducting. 5 This fact was particularly
significant for the Japanese composer because Aaron Copland had figured in
his artistic development well before the visit of Stravinsky to Japan, specifically in the
second half of the 1940s, when Takemitsu had his first contact with American music.
2
Cf. in this context also Burt (2001: 50 ff.). On p. 51 the author notes that the first bars of the Requiem resemble
Samuel Barber’s Adagio for strings, and wonders whether Takemitsu may have heard Barber’s work on the
radio of the American Center for Information and Education in Tokyo.
3
Reports published in Miyamoto (1996: 121) and in Ohtake (1993: 6).
4
Passage also cited in Miyamoto (1996: 121). Concerning Dorian Horizon see among other articles
Galliano (2002: 30-35).
5
Cf. in this respect also Ohtake (1993: 8).
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