MUSIQUE(S) x IMAGE(S) - "From Tokyo with love"
From Tokyo with love - « In memoriam Tōru Takemitsu » :
Cinephiles think of him solely as a film music composer – it’s true that he has over one hundred film scores to his name, commissioned by regulars of the Cannes Palmes d’Or. As for the music lovers, they see in him a modern composer, bringing together elegance and profession – it’s true that he has written countless works that, even several decades after their composition, are still greatly appreciated in concert halls for their “permanent state of ethereal evanescence, shimmering and suggesting rather than stating directly, and yet its impact was absolute, definite and unforgettable” (according to Tom Service, the Guardian’s influential music critic, who adds: “It was music that sounded strangely similar to Debussy and Messiaen in its harmonies and textures, yet very different in its effect”).
Today, the works of Tōru Takemitsu (who would have celebrated his 90thbirthday this month) are performed each week somewhere in the world. Next month, the northern shores of Europe will be able to (re)discover two of his most famous concert pieces: his Requiem for String Orchestra (conducted by Kjetil Almenning) in Bergen on 1 November, and then, on 24 November, Garden Rain, for two brass sections, the famous neo-meditative work from the 1970s, in Kiel.
Takemitsu and the image.
Ideal complements to these performances in concert, Takemitsu's great sound journeys can also be undertaken in a way that could not be more inspiring through the filmmakers he has accompanied.
Akira Kurosawa, of course, for whom he composed the soundtrack for Ran*, after the "underground cult" film Dodesukaden*.
Hiroshi Teshigawara, who allowed him to receive the honour of a Special Prize of the Jury at Cannes in 1964 for a particularly sensual score for Woman in the Dunes*.
Shōhei Imamura, with whom he shared various successful collaborations before the international successes and multi-prizewinning films The Ballad of Narayama* and The Eel*.
Photos :
Tōru Takemitsu © DR
Films Akira Kurosawa :
Ran (1985)
Dodesukaden (1970)
Film Hiroshi Teshigahara :
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Films Shōhei Imamura :
The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
The Eel (1997)
Film Philip Kaufman :
Rising Sun (1993)
* Work don't published by Durand Salabert Eschig