Takemitsu: I Hear the Water Dreaming

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Takemitsu, who died in 1996, wrote everything from movie music to Beatles arrangements to avant-garde chamber music. In his best works, he draws simultaneously on the traditional idiom of Japan and the most advanced contemporary techniques. All this music was written (or, in one case, arranged) for flute solo, and Patrick Gallois proves a most satisfying interpreter, getting into the composer's skin and playing with a most convincing sense of inner quiet. One misconceived idea mars the disc, though. Takemitsu had good reasons for producing three versions of Toward the Sea, a lovely and imaginative piece. But even when separated by other pieces, they don't make for satisfying listening on one program. (Given the choice, I would have picked the orchestral version for its added color.) Still, with such fine performances and sound, there's enough music on the disc to make it worth picking up if the idiom appeals to you. --Leslie Gerber

Tracks:

A String Around Autumn - Philip Dukes
I Hear The Water Dreaming - Sharon Bezaly
A Way A Lone II - Tadaaki Otaka
Riverrun - Noriko Ogawa

Customer Reviews:

Excellent selection of Takemitsu's orchestral music.......2006-06-26

While the four compositions on this disc together represent a nice cross-section of Takemitsu's music from the last 15 or so years of his life, the main attraction of this CD is the performance of "A String Around Autumn"--a particularly beautiful and evocative piece from a composer known for his attention to the beauty of sound itself. While Takemitsu's music, especially his orchestration, always reveals a deep French influence (think Debussy, Ravel and Messiaen), "A String Around Autumn" evokes Debussy in an especially striking way--yet without merely imitating the earlier composer. This piece is also an excellent introduction to Takemitsu's music.

As usual with BIS recordings, the sound quality is consistently superb. The clarity of these recordings serves Takemitsu's extremely delicate timbres very well. Because of this greater clarity, I prefer this performance of "I Hear the Water Dreaming" over the one included on a DG 20/21 disc of Takemitsu's flute music.

Overall, a highly recommended collection of Takemitsu's music--either as an introductory CD, or for fans of the composer.

Toru Takemitsu: Orchestral Works 3, Autumn, etc.

Average customer rating:

Toru Takemitsu: Orchestral Works 3, Autumn, etc.

Manufacturer: Denon Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000034QA
Release Date: 1997-09-16

Tracks:

Autumn: into the fall after a little while
A Way A Lone II
I Hear The Water Dreaming
Twill By Twilight

Average customer rating:

One or two great moments, but a lot of dead weight in a repetitive programme.
great for newcomers
Great performances, but a repetitive program
Great composer of our time
See the Toward

Takemitsu: I Hear the Water Dreaming

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Toru Takemitsu: Quotation of Dream (20/21 series) - London Sinfonietta / Oliver Knussen
Takemitsu: Requiem; Twill by Twilight
Takemitsu: A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden
Takemitsu: Garden Rain
In an Autumn Garden (Dig)

ASIN: B00004SDNY
Release Date: 2000-06-13

Tracks:

I Hear The Water Dreaming
Toward The Sea l: 1. The Night
Toward The Sea I: 2. Moby Dick
Toward The Sea I: 3. Cape Cod
Les Filles Des Etoiles
Toward The Sea II: 1. The Night
Toward The Sea II: 2. Moby Dick
Toward The Sea II: 3. Cape Cod
And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind
Toward The Sea III: 1. The Night
Toward The Sea III: 2. Moby Dick
Toward The Sea III: 3. Cape Cod
Air

Amazon.com

Takemitsu, who died in 1996, wrote everything from movie music to Beatles arrangements to avant-garde chamber music. In his best works, he draws simultaneously on the traditional idiom of Japan and the most advanced contemporary techniques. All this music was written (or, in one case, arranged) for flute solo, and Patrick Gallois proves a most satisfying interpreter, getting into the composer's skin and playing with a most convincing sense of inner quiet. One misconceived idea mars the disc, though. Takemitsu had good reasons for producing three versions of Toward the Sea, a lovely and imaginative piece. But even when separated by other pieces, they don't make for satisfying listening on one program. (Given the choice, I would have picked the orchestral version for its added color.) Still, with such fine performances and sound, there's enough music on the disc to make it worth picking up if the idiom appeals to you. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

One or two great moments, but a lot of dead weight in a repetitive programme........2007-02-04

This Deutsche Grammophon disc, part of the "20/21" series of contemporary music recordings, contains seven works by Toru Takemitsu with a spotlight on the flute, performed here by Patrick Gallois. Gallois is occasionally joined by guitarist Goeran Soellscher, harpist Fabrice Pierre, violist Pierre Henri Xuereb, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis. All of these pieces are from Takemitsu's late period, after he had left behind the wild avant-garde stylings of his middle years, and unfortunately generally show a significant turn towards dullness and stagnation.

The earliest piece here isn't Takemitsu's original, but his 1975 arrangement of Satie's piano work "Le Fils des Etoiles" for flute and harp. This is brief and fairly unremarkable, and the first substantial piece on the album is "Toward the Sea" for alto flute and guitar (1981). This is a fairly enjoyable work, and while I often find the sound of the classical guitar uninteresting, here it is used for background texture against the flute's leaps in a neat way.

Takemitsu went on to write two further arrangements of the musical material in "Toward the Sea", where only the textures were changed and the flute part remained unaltered. The first, "Toward the Sea II" (1981) is for alto flute, harp, and string orchestra, while the second "Toward the Sea III" (1989) is a reduction of the first for alto flute and harp. While not among the lowest parts of his late oeuvres, these arrangements don't stand up to the elegance of the original, and as they are all cut from the same general cloth, putting all three on one disc was a foolish idea.

"I Hear the Water Dreaming" (1987) is a typical work of Takemitsu's late orchestral output, featuring an interest in timbre but with no drama or variations in tempo. You'll forget it as soon as it's over.

"And then I knew 'twas wind" for flute, viola, and harp (1992) bears more than a passing resemblance with Debussy's "Sonata" for the same three instruments. It stands out for the dynamic interactions of the three instruments, with the flute often leaping above the encumberance of the other two. However, this recording is somewhat muddled, comparing badly to the crystal-clear sound on a Naxos disc.

Takemitsu's final work, "Air" for solo flute (1995), was taken from material developed for a work for flute, harp, and orchestra that was not to be, for Takemitsu's untimely death came the next year. The piece is a set of variations in rondo form on a four-note motif, with an interest in ascending and descending scales. Unfortunately, Takemitsu doesn't explore any unusual techniques, which made his earlier pieces for solo flute so exotic.

There are a few good works from Takemitsu's late period. I'd direct browsers towards the Naxos chamber music disc, a series of spellbinding pieces (including better performances of "Toward the Sea", "Air", and "And Then I Knew 'twas Wind") in performance by some of Takemitsu's favourite musicians. For large-scale orchestral works of the late period, Deutsche Grammophon's "20/21" disc QUOTATION OF DREAM and the Sony disc with "From Me Flows What You Call Time" are worth getting. However, if you are a fan of challenging modernistic writing, middle-period Takemitsu is more for you. This disc should be left to Takemitsu completists.

great for newcomers.......2006-07-16

Sometimes I encounter opinionated people who believe that modern art music as a whole stinks. Other times I find someone interested in the subject, but too nervous to experiment with George Crumb or John Cage or even Schoenberg. These are not the kind of people who would approvingly compare Takemitsu to Debussy or Messiaen. But these are precisely the kind of people to whom I introduce Takemitsu, confident that his beautiful music will seduce them if they approach it with an open spirit.

You do not require an education in music theory to appreciate this; in fact, you might be better off without one. Just listen closely.

As for me, I am far from an expert in music, but Takemitsu is definitely among my favorites. I love "From Me Flows What You Call Time" best of all his work, and I would offer it to you ahead of the music on this CD, although this is probably more approachable just because it is a little less percussive, though no less rythmically startling.

Like all of Takemitsu's music that I've heard, this music is very peaceful on the surface, with quickly passing moments of conflict--though repeated listening reveals more and more subdued tension to me. Takemitsu teaches me not merely to wait patienty for the music, but to appreciate the silence as attentively as the sound. Simple sounds in Takemitsu's music sometimes seem so intense, silence is required as a balance, sometimes even a relief. And then, harmony comes as a kind of sweet delight that would be unbearable in abundance.

At first his music made me feel a contrast between woodwind and string; but more and more I find myself experiencing them as a single, inseparable sound in his music, as if they came from a single instrument. So far, no other composer's music has had that effect on the way I experience the instruments. Forgive me for leaping so far, but it reminds me of some very enjoyable jazz.

This particular CD is interesting because it has three variations of the same piece of music, as Takemitsu modified it over an 8 year period. The opportunity to contrast them makes for a unique musical experience, which some people will enjoy greatly.

Just FYI, for my fellow humble dabblers in the musical world, some other modern composers whose work I find easy to enjoy include Arvo Part, Philip Glass, and George Enescu--not to mention the stars, Shostakovich, Holst, and Orff. Messiaen I have found more challenging, though I am unfamiliar with most of his work.

As for Debussy, mentioned by all the reviewers here, you should definitely not miss his "Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faun." No one will fail to perceive Takemitsu's debt, but it's very pleasant to move from Debussy's lush sensuality to Takemitsu's gentle beatitude.

Great performances, but a repetitive program.......2003-11-21

DG 20/21's second Takemitsu survey is devoted to performances of flute music by the excellent Patrick Gallois. There are seven pieces on the disc, though three of them are different versions of the same work.

I Hear the Water Dreaming is a flute concerto in miniature. Like most of late Takemitsu, it is mostly slow and rhapsodic, with a harmonic language derived from Debussy and Messiaen, yet a sound that could never be mistaken for any other composer. I think this is one of the finest of Takemitsu's late pieces and Gallois' excellent rendition of the solo part is well-counterpointed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Davis.

There are three versions of Towards the Sea on this disc. This three-movement work was written for Greenpeace's "Save the Whales" campaign, and despite being inspired by Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick is predominantly peaceful and lyrical. In the original version, the solo flute carries much of the melodic line and the guitarist accompanies mainly with chords and arpeggios. The second version moves the guitar part to the harp and adds sustaining chords in a string orchestra, while the third version--like the second--leaves the flute part unaltered, merely adapting the guitar part for harp. My preference is for the second version, with harp and string orchestra, which is given a better performance here than in the rival Naxos recording.

Like the third version of Toward the Sea, Takemitsu's transcription of Erik Satie's Le Fils des etoiles is for flute and harp. This is a simple, effective piece of work, which does not lose the original's faux-naif style. And Then I Knew 'twas Wind, the longest work on this disc, adds a viola--thus openly duplicating the instrumentation of Debussy's sonata for flute, viola and harp. It can't compete with Debussy's work for quality, but it is still an enjoyable, ruminative work.

The disc closes with the solo flute piece Air, Takemitsu's last work, which was cobbled together from sketches for a flute concerto abandoned when it became clear the composer was too ill to complete it. Unfortunately, despite some characteristic touches, this work is not Takemitsu at his best.

Overall, this is an excellent collection of Takemitsu's music, with outstanding performances all around. The only demerits I can find for it are the appearance of all three arrangements of Toward the Sea, and the unvarying mood--common to almost all of Takemitsu's late work--of all the works here.

Great composer of our time.......2001-10-10

Toru Takemitsu is a very outstanding composer in the world. His music always has some feelings of fantasy and his harmony is very colorful. This CD includes two big works of him. "I hear the water dreaming" and " Towards the sea" .I don't need to say much about the pieces, just listen to them, you will agree with me that Takemitsu is a huge star.

See the Toward.......2000-10-29

I enjoy the quiet, expressive music on this CD. It is music for flute (Patrick Gallois) and orchestra, influenced by French impressionism of the late nineteenth century. LE FILS DES ETOILES is adapted from Erik Satie. The music elevates silence to an importance equal with sound. Just as there can be no wave without a trough, there can be no sound without silence. I am reminded of waves by the undulating melodies of the flute accompanied by guitar in TOWARD THE SEA (I). Takemitsu-sensei (1930-1996) was a prolific composer, who was largely self-taught. He composed scores for 93 films in his forty year career. Among the distinguished directors he has worked with are, Kurosawa, Teshigahara, Imamura, Shinoda and Oshima. By way of an incomplete example, some of the esteemed films he has been involved with are Kuroi Ami (Black Rain 1989), Ran (1985), Ai no borei (L' Empire de la Passion 1978), Dodesukaden (1970), and Suna no onna (Woman in the Dunes 1964). If you are interested in the artistry of one of Japan's most reknowned composers, or if you are interested in quiet, flute music, this CD will interest you.

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