TAKEM ITSU

C O M P L E T E M U S I C F O R S O LO G U I TA R

Andrea Dieci guitar

TORU TAKEMITSU 1930-1996
Complete Music for Solo Guitar

Folios (1974) 12 Songs Transcriptions for Guitar (1977)

1. I. 3’05 13. Londonderry Air (Irish Folk Song) 3’25
2. II. 2’19 14. Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen) 3’11
3. III. 2’47 15. Summertime (George Gershwin) 3’44
16. A Song of Early Spring (Akira Nakada) 3’17
All in Twilight (1987) Four Pieces for Guitar 17. Amours Perdues (Joseph Kosma) 2’55
4. I. 3’12 18. What a Friend (Charles C. Converse) 2’31
5. II. Dark 2’34 19. Secret Love (Sammy Fain) 2’30
6. III. 2’21 20. Here, There and Everywhere (John Lennon & Paul McCartney) 2’48
7. IV. Slightly Fast 2’48 21. Michelle (John Lennon & Paul McCartney) 3’07
22. Hey Jude (John Lennon & Paul McCartney) 2’53
A Piece for Guitar For the 60th Birthday of Sylvano Bussotti (1991)
8.  1’19 23. Yesterday (John Lennon & Paul McCartney) 3’14
24. The International (Pierre Degeyter) 2’37
9. Equinox (1993) 5’19
25. The Last Waltz
In the Woods (1995) Three Pieces for Guitar (Les Reed & Barry Mason / Arranged by Toru Takemitsu, 1983) 3’13
10. Wainscot Pond – after a painting by Cornelia Foss 4’09
11. Rosedale 4’24
12. Muir Woods 5’51 Andrea Dieci guitar

Recording: 1 July & 16 September 2017, Cappella dell’Immacolata, Collegio Rotondi,

Gorla Minore, Italy
Sound engineer: Alessandro Scandroglio
Guitar: Hermann Hauser 1939
Strings by Savarez
Guitar and Artist Photos by Matteo Finazzi
Cover: © Dorregaray, Dreamstime.com
p & © 2018 Brilliant Classics
Toru Takemitsu: Complete Works for Solo Guitar Takemitsu’s creative personality derived from two distinct musical spheres. On the
one hand the oriental soundscape of his youth, initially Chinese and then Japanese
A composer of great talent, sensitivity and personality, Toru Takemitsu (1930- (the koto played at home, the joyful folk festivals, the songs and music on the radio,
1996) began to make a name for himself in the 1960s, when he was in his thirties. the musicality of language); and on the other, his passion as an adult for western
Outstanding among international musical circles of the time, his original creative music. Takemitsu’s acute Japanese sensitivity and his profound understanding of
idiom revealed itself in works of incisive appeal, full of strength and contrast, such as western music allowed him to herald many trends associated with the avant-garde.
The Dorian Horizon, November Steps, Arc, and Ring, all of them compositions that As his own compositions clearly reveal, he was especially drawn by the somewhat
‘liberated music from a certain stagnation and brought to music something distinctly oriental flow and chromatism of Debussy’s music, which in its turn was no doubt
new and different’ (T. Takemitsu). influenced by the music of East Asia that could be heard in Paris in those years.
Along with other composers of the time, including György Ligeti (who also wrote Takemitsu’s hallmark thus became the fleeting image and the shimmering hues of
sound tracks), Hans Werner Henze and Tan Dun, from the mid-1980s, Takemitsu’s music freed of consequential direction, whereby the confines of harmony are blurred
work changed in orientation, becoming more tonal, a process that continued through by ambiguity. Other composers also made an impact on him, especially in his guitar
to the last creative stage of his life. Takmitsu’s language was magical, full of edginess works, where features typical of French music (above all of Olivier Messiaen’s style)
and silence, and even when his style became more relaxed and mannered, it lost also come to the fore. Indeed, it is no coincidence that Darius Milhaud, André Jolivet
nothing in terms of meaningfulness. What he wrote in the 1990s tends to be gentle, and Francis Poulenc also wrote for the guitar.
mellow and full of colour, with a magnificent sound palette and little recourse to One of Takemitsu’s foremost interpreters was Aki Takahashi, the wife of Kuniharu
contrast. He poured all the skill accumulated in previous years into works that Akiyama, his musicologist friend and colleague. To Aki Takahashi Takemitsu once
envelop the listener in a comfortable atmosphere imbued with a hint of melancholy. admitted that what he really wanted was to write music that was sexy, and I believe
Around the age of sixty, the composer was writing monolithic, subdued spleen music he succeeded in this by keeping close to the erotic undercurrent of society. Around the
that had become simpler in form, especially in the cycle of compositions relating to 1960s engagé involvement was sexy, from the end of the 1980s it was the gratification
dreams: Dreamtime, Dream/Window, etc. of the senses that came across as deeply desirable. The overall social attitude was
Takemitsu’s later works are probably the most widely performed part of his overall dreamy, switched off and averse to rationalism. To various degrees such are the
output, certainly much appreciated by many of his fans. Others, however, prefer extremes within which Takemitsu’s compositions evolve. Granted, all descriptions of
the more radical compositions in which he delved into silence and the void with music can be contested, precisely because they are schematic. Hopefully they can also
discernment, approaching space and time with great originality. This was particularly be helpful.
so for certain works dating back to the 1960s, which flow so calmly around their inner So France is the place of reference regarding both the guitar and Takemitsu’s
mobility that they almost give the impression of infinity. Often the restless sensitivity of music. He was well-read and charming, and the guitar was the instrument that best
the early works embodies something akin to ecstasy, and a feeling of privation: ‘I must expressed the universe of seduction, which he described as ‘simple but grandiose’. His
not ignore my doubts about the falseness of this so-called “expression”’ (T.T.). first experience of western music came about at the age of fourteen, and the piece in
question was a French song, Parlez-moi d’amour sung by Lucienne Boyer. Chansons gratifying for the guitarist who really wanted to work out exactly what the composer
became his daily bread through to the post-war period, as the 12 Songs reveal. intended to express. Takemitsu’s scores were highly refined and ‘idiomatic’, sometimes
Takemitsu was always inclined to approach particular soundscapes from different full of detailed instructions regarding tempi, dynamics and mood (for instance,
perspectives: for instance, the string orchestra and strings in general through to the the famous ‘softly’ and ‘dying way’ of the second of the Folios), and elsewhere
1960s; in other moments the piano, brass, and flute. While focusing on the guitar, he deliberately empty. His distinctive idiom comprised figures (as in the Folios with their
also devoted attention to the lute, and to some degree also to the harp. swinging, zigzag progressions up and down), arpeggios and chords that appear and
Apart from the works in which the guitar is the soloist, as featured in this disappear rapidly before returning in a different guise. In his later works, Takemitsu
recording, the instrument was also present in many other works during the associated a particular colour with moments of silence to separate specific sound
composer’s creative life. Takemitsu used the guitar in numerous soundtracks (and events. Extended sliding chromatic chords produce transient harmonies, suggesting
also in chamber works deriving from them), in the lovely Ring for flute, terz guitar a spasmodic juxtaposition of colours that contributes to the sensation of harmonic
and lute of 1961, in the two successive pieces Sacrifice and Valeria, and in the first iridescence.
version of Toward the Sea (1981) for flute and guitar. These chamber works herald There is magic in Takemitsu’s works for the guitar, an unfailing mobile grace that
later compositions for guitar and orchestra, such as To the Edge of Dream of 1983, evolves as his compositions develop, passing from the post-structuralist finesse of the
and Vers, L’arc-en-ciel, Palma for oboe d’amore, guitar and orchestra of 1984. Over crystalline details in works close to Folios to later pieces such as Spectral Canticle and
ten years later, Takemitsu also composed Spectral Canticle for violin, guitar and In the Woods, which come across as almost contemporary in the handling of both the
orchestra, as well as his last work In the Woods, which he never actually heard in orchestra and the solo instrument.
performance because the three pieces were only premiered after his death: the first In Folios there are plenty of marked contrasts consisting of sudden increases in
was dedicated to John Williams, and was performed by Norio Sato at Takemitsu’s tension achieved through climax chords underpinned by detailed dynamics. The
funeral; the second to Kiyoshi Shomura; and the third to Julian Bream. isolation of rarefied sound suggests a degree of meditation and attention to silence.
Takemitsu had musicians of considerable acclaim in mind when he wrote for the In Japanese art it is relatively common to undermine balance and symmetry, and
guitar, and the same could be said for other instruments. Though often demanding, Takemitsu does this with harmony to emphasize the opposition between full and
the detailed musicality of the scores conjured up the fleeting life of shadows, captured void, sound and silence: for instance, the chord and the pause in the third of the
in numerous recordings. As an instrument that featured in all musical genres, during lovely Folios that herald the reference to the Hassler chorale O Haupt voll Blut und
the twentieth century the guitar appealed to various composers precisely because it Wunden, quoted from Bach, whom Takemitsu particularly loved.
was extraneous to classical sound. Among the composers in contact with Takemitsu, The mood is different in All in Twilight, the title of which refers to a painting of
there were many who wrote for the guitar, including, Goffredo Petrassi, Elliot Carter, the same name by Paul Klee. Commissioned by Julian Bream, who premiered it in
Bruno Maderna, Franco Donatoni, Giacinto Scelsi and Sylvano Bussotti (to whom New York in October 1988, the composition consists of four gently cradling pieces
Takemitsu dedicated A Piece for Guitar, written for the Florentine composer’s 60th ‘in which everything is immersed in a vague, obscure and melancholy twilight’.
birthday celebrations). Most of these scores were technically demanding, yet also Little has changed in the way the composer articulates his musical discourse, but the
materials involved and the mood created are different. By way of an example, take the Steps actually reveals an unruffled attempt at integration by seeking out what the two
arpeggio-like quatrains of the ‘slightly fast’ last movement, described by Peter Burt, cultures had in common: the lowest common denominator could provide what he
a great Takemitsu expert, as having ‘a certain “simil-pop” mellifluous tone’. They referred to as ‘the seed of mutual understanding’.
have become a classic, reassuring topos of guitar music. The favourite minor second In this recording the pieces from the classical repertoire are followed by the songs:
intervals, the fourths and sixths, and the chords that speak for the composer’s brilliant the collection of 12 Songs of 1977 and The Last Waltz of 1983. The songs are so
handling of sound together contribute to an overall sensation of sweet inertia. The explicit and clear as to require no introduction as such. The arrangements for guitar
fabric is somehow symmetrical, deliberately organized in blocks featuring repetition are elegant and original, and the composer seems to rejoice in intoning a melody with
with variations in detailing and a sense of prevailing tension. great simplicity, shaping it carefully within the familiar confines of classical music
Named after a painting by Juan Miró, Equinox is a short, meditative piece that that was permeable to the mood of pop music. This is not something that happened
is typically dreamlike in mood. It was dedicated to Shomura for the concert held often in his ‘classical’ compositions, although another case in point is to be found
in Tokyo in April 1994 to celebrate his 25-year career as a guitarist. Takemitsu in All in Twilight. The choice of titles is balanced and intelligent, and the songs
required the guitar to be retuned to E -A – D – G – B  – E, to bring out a particular themselves come from international sources (Europe, the USA, Japan). Here and there
colour of sound, shimmering, expressive yet also static, like a succession of luminous a prelude contains elements reminiscent of the classical figurations of Japanese string
perspectives enjoyed effortlessly, in a mood of almost ecstatic peace. instruments, and the overall flow of the works takes the edge off their considerable
During his later years, Takemitsu’s compositions became quieter and more fluid. technical difficulty: in What a Friend, for example. Takemitsu pays particular
Compared with the complexity of the earlier works, In the Woods comes across as attention to songs by the Beatle musicians Lennon and McCartney, arranged with
more transparent and mellifluous. In the early 1990s the composer himself declared a succession of unconventional chords. There is true delight in the ‘Latino’ version
that ‘the melody I wish to intone is not a line of simple lyricism. I’m already past of Summertime, with a coda in bossa nova rhythm: a gentle, personal approach to
that... What I’m after is the complex combination of different tracks, the narration globalization if ever there was one.
of a thread. In actual fact I still have not grasped this melody of mine’. In his pursuit As we have already pointed out, during his last years Takemitsu became less
of elusive melody, Takemitsu turned to the music of Debussy, as he had done in the radical in his approach to the two cultures to which he referred. The fact that he was
1950s. The magic of Debussy lay in the way he ‘sought different viewpoints and many attracted by the possible points of fusion between the two may have been a reaction
shades of colour..., combining many things at one and the same time’. to the disturbing signs of nationalism that were making themselves felt in Japan.
It may also be that when Takemitsu veered towards more familiar forms of musical Increasingly inclined to focus on encounter, he insisted on the need to prepare a more
expression he did so because he had ‘big audiences’ in mind. During an important global, universal future for young people. With smiling, implacable rigor, he pursued
interview in 1989, he declared his deep love of composing music, suggesting also that this goal in his own music, but died too early to see how such projects would develop.
the fruits of his creative efforts should be heard by large numbers of people. By this © Luciana Galliano
time he was not particularly interested in resolving the contradiction between western Translated by Kate Singleton
and oriental music in his own approach to composition, to the extent that November
Notes on the instrument
Guitar by Hermann Hauser senior, Munich 1939, once the property of Andrés Segovia.

As the hand-written inscription on the inside of the soundboard declares, this guitar
was built by ‘H. Hauser / Munchen / 1939; fait pour Monsieur / Andrés Segovia /
Montevideo’. Hermann Hauser was a Bavarian luthier (1882-1952), and he built
this instrument for Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) during the period in which the great
guitarist had moved to Montevideo, in Uruguay.
In 1948 Segovia gave the instrument to the amateur guitarist Doña Paz Armesto
de Quiroga, possibly as a token of gratitude for the help he had received during the
first years of his career. The guitar was later purchased in Barcelona by the concert
performer Rosa Lloret Ortiz, and when she had to break off her career on account
of ill-health, it was sold to an Argentinian collector. Then in 2009 it turned up at
a Christie’s auction in New York, where it was bought for an important Italian
collection.
Of the various guitars built by Hauser over the years for Andrés Segovia, this
is the only one of the post-1937 period that Segovia kept for several years. It is a
magnificent example of a modern Spanish guitar. Many consider Hermann Hauser
Senior to be the greatest non-Spanish-born luthier who built guitars in the Spanish
style. He had studied the construction technique of the Torres guitars, and on meeting
Segovia in 1924 was encouraged to continue in the same direction, adopting as a
model the guitar built by Manuel Ramírez-Santos Hernández in 1912, an instrument
that had helped Segovia make a name for himself.
The soundboard is made up of two parts in spruce of regular grain, with ample
markings covering the entire surface. The rosette is made up of an alternation of
small, slanted parallelepipeds in stained wood and maple, enclosed on the inner and
outer sides by a double fillet in alternating natural maple and black-stained wood.
In the central part there is a decoration consisting of stylized ribbons and flowers,
enclosed at the ends by polychrome fillets of different thickness. The back, reinforced
by three cross struts in mahogany, is made in two parts using excellent Brazilian A seasoned international prize-
rosewood. Similar rosewood has been used for the sides and for the headstock winner, Andrea Dieci has been
veneer, while that of the bridge is of different quality. The neck and headstock are described as ‘an impressive guitarist’
in mahogany. The original machine heads with engraved brass side plates and ivory by New York’s Times Herald and
buttons are of particular value. The decorations on the edge of the soundboard, on as ‘a true star of the classical guitar’
the back, the sides and in the centre of the inlay of the palette are all made using fillets by Italy’s Corriere della Sera. Since
in rosewood, natural maple, and maple stained green and black. making his début at the age of
In virtue of its excellent dynamics, and the quality and clarity of the sound, this 13 he has performed extensively
guitar can be considered one of the finest instruments built by Hermann Hauser worldwide, appearing at such famous
Senior in the 1930s. events as the Spoleto Festival of Two
© Giovanni Accornero Worlds, the Festival of the Guitar
Foundation of America (GFA) and
the Singapore International Festival.
His engagements also extend to
Milan, Madrid, London, Athens,
Istanbul, Los Angeles and Tokyo,
among other cities.
He has premièred several pieces
dedicated to him by contemporary
composers.
Dieci’s performances have been
broadcast by major radio and TV
companies – including Italian Radio-
Television (RAI), Euroradio, Vatican
Radio, Radio Nacional Española,
Swiss-Italian Radio-Television and
the BBC. His several albums, released
by MAP, Nuova Era, Bèrben,
DotGuitar and Brilliant Classics,
include a recording of Manuel Ponce’s guitar music and others dedicated to Nicola
Jappelli, Astor Piazzolla and Fernando Sor (Brilliant Classics). Moreover, he is the
only guitarist to have recorded the complete works for solo guitar by Heitor Villa-
Lobos, Toru Takemitsu (awarded the ‘Golden Guitar’ 2005 at the 10th International
Guitar Congress of Alessandria for the best CD of the year) and Hans Werner Henze
(Brilliant Classics – awarded the ‘Golden Guitar’ 2017 at the 22nd International
Guitar Congress of Alessandria for the best CD of the year).
In addition to being in demand as a performer, Dieci is also a renowned teacher. He
is currently based at the Vecchi-Tonelli Conservatoire in Modena, as well as holding
master classes and lectures worldwide.

A special thanks to Giovanni Accornero