Search - Toru Takemitsu, Tadaaki Otaka, BBC National Orchestra of Wales :: Takemitsu: A Flock Descends

Among the most unremarkable pieces of all Takemitsu's work

Christopher Culver | 12/10/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This BIS disc contains four orchestral works by Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka, with Paul Watkins on cello in the concerto. All works come from Takemitsu's late period, the "sea of tonality" where there is no sense of allegro and instead gentle waves of sound, a strong contrast to the modernist apogee of the late '60s and early 70s.



"A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden" (1977) is a single-movement work that may be seen as the first piece of this "late Takemitsu. It is based around a single number, five. Takemitsu says that he dreamed of a flock of white birds entering a pentagonal garden lead by one black bird, and this inspired him to create one of the most strictly serialised pieces of his career. It begins with a pentatonic scale, as if only the black keys of the piano were used, and eventually the seven "white notes" join it.



As for whether the piece is enjoyable without doting on its formal scheme, I'm uncertain. The problem is not that it sounds rigorous and mathematical--Takemitsu was a master of writing twelve-tone works that sound gentle and calm--but rather that it doesn't differentiate itself much from other works. Takemitsu's late orchestral pieces tend to all sound the same, and even those who have championed his music, such as Oliver Knussen, admit that they all seem cut from the same general roll. While some late orchestral works such as "Dream/Window" and the percussion concerto "From me flows what you call Time" stand out as sure masterpieces, "A Flock Descends..." has little to recommend it, especially compared to Takemitsu's earlier work.



"Dreamtime" (1981) and "Star Isle" (1982) are more typical representatives of Takemitsu's anonymous orchestra music. A wonderful ear for timbre is weakened by a total lack of dramatic content or clarity of parts. Things get a little better in "Orion and Pleiades" (1982), a a three-movement ("Orion", "and", and "Pleiades") concerto for cello and orchestra. The concerto concept is strongest in the first movement, where the cello's melody provides the main line and the cellist must play through some virtuosic passages. Unfortunately, in the second two movements it reverts to generic orchestral meanderings.



All the really stunning orchestral works of Takemitsu's late period are on the QUOTATION OF DREAM disc in Deutsche Grammophon's "20/21" series, though the percussion concerto "From Me Flow What You Call Time" on a Sony disc is also worth hearing. His late chamber works, which are often much more exciting than those for orchestra, can be heard on a fine Naxos disc. This BIS disc may be left to collectors of his music, and as much as I hate to give one star to music from a composer I generally admire, that's the honest way to review it."