toru takemitsu

Takemitsu

Classical

Toru Takemitsu's work for the classical guitar recorded as part of my Studio Experience module during my postgrad at RCM.

Engineer: Ben Connellan
Producer: Lily Thornton
Recording Date: 7th March 2012

All in Twilight (Toru Takemitsu)

Night Tracks 🔊 (BBC Radio 3) - 2

Declan Zapala - Solo Guitar

武満 徹

Toru Takemitsu "Rain Tree Sketch II" c. 1992
Recorded Live (2006)


Toru Takemitsu - Rain Tree Sketch II

Derun’s magical touch on Dakhabrakha’s storytelling. A crying cello shift around the world looking out for the eternal beauty, become saturating with crumbs of impressions of other cultures, borrowings and imitation interspersings. Alambari is the place where ‘’The voyagers’’ paths crossed.
The story behind the track:
Well, the journey is going on!
Stories to tell... Moments to share...
The voyagers' paths crossed. Derun and DakhaBrakha.
The most important thing is to determine the speed of travel. As far as speed sets the rhythm of general comfort zone. Let`s suppose it will be an equable creaking of sled wheel. This sound will be picked up by the sensitive microphone and then – got into the loop station of one of the musicians. If you wish, it can be imitated with a crying cello – so the rhythm is launched. Its pulsebeat will go along with us for a long time. Are we in a hurry somewhere? No. We have outlined the range of speed limits at once. Is it possible to travel through Ukraine if you move like this? And what is more – to shift around the world looking out for the eternal beauty, become saturating with crumbs of impressions of other cultures, borrowings and imitation interspersings. Alambari – is our next stop on this route.

Derun, DakhaBrakha - Alambari | BM051 | Preview

Rain Dreaming(Toru Takemitsu)by chembalo

Thanks for listening! This is a lesser-known piece written by the Eric Roche (1967-2005) that I recorded in my living room. The audio is taken from a live video of me playing it which can be viewed on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfI1GINTHY8.

Angel (Eric Roche)

Valentin Silvestrov, Abendserenade Aus 'Stille Musik'

A piece I wrote for my Irish Mother, inspired by the film of the same name. 

Philomena

"My music is like a garden, and I am the gardener. Listening to my music can be compared with walking through a garden and experiencing the changes in light, pattern and texture."
- Toru Takemitsu

- Performed with Noriko Yabe (piano), June 2014

Toru Takemitsu - Orion

TORU TAKEMITSU
1930 - 1996

Toru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer who achieved international acclaim. He was largely influenced by various contemporary artists – such as Debussy, Copland, and Messiaen -
and their styles, and constantly tried to build his own music by conflating his cultural/spiritual identity with them. Takemitsu especially focused on the possibilities of timbre and sound. He criticized the fact that Western avant-garde music was paying too much attention to scientific rationalism, ignoring the relationship between music and people. 
As an alternative to this, he pursued subtle timbral manipulation and explored various sounds and noises from daily life. In addition, Takemitsu is famous for combining elements of Eastern and Western philosophy and for incorporating silence and tradition with innovation. He showed great interest in expressing the atmosphere of his home country, Japan, musically. For instance, „November Steps“ (1967) is a symphony that rediscovered traditional Japanese values under the influence of John Cage. Another representative work „A Flock Descendants into the Pentagonal Garden“ (1977) demonstrates the indigenous gardens of Japan.

TAKEMITSU AND GUITAR

Guitar works of Takemitsu show a deep understanding of timbre, organisation, and instrumentation, guitar is close to Takemitsu’s musical aest in that it has great potential to articulate both, Eastern and Western music styles. The classical guitar is an instrument that can digest a variety of Western musical elements, including
polyphony and homophony, while it produces sounds similar to the traditional Japanese instrument ‚Biwa‘.
In addition, the important keyword for understanding Takemitsu‘s guitar works is the Japanese aesthetics of ‚Ma‘. 
‚Ma‘ is a concept that is explained by the stationary state in time,
and/or the interval or emptiness in space. Takemitsu saw the stillness of this ‚Ma‘ as representing the latent energy, not the absence of sound.
The guitar is an instrument optimized for the musical implementation of this idea because of its sound mechanism; the plucked strings resonate with the body and its empty space.

Toward The Sea 1

All In Twilight 4

All In Twilight 3

All In Twilight 2

All In Twilight 1

Henri Tomasi - Trumpet Concerto, 2nd Mvt

Toru Takemitsu, RAIN SPELL

Toru Takemitsu - The Pitfall

Toru Takemitsu: Toward the Sea

"Sansara's debut album really is sensational. I confidently say that they are already one of the finest, most exciting choirs in the UK today. Their approach to new and established repertoire is so refreshing, and their programmes are delivered with intelligence, musicality, and precision. They have an enormously bright future, and I am very excited to be part of this as an Associate Composer."

- Oliver Tarney

Cloths of Heaven

Oliver Tarney | A prayer of St Richard of Chichester (sample)

Toru Takemitsu: Rain Tree Sketch I
Lorenzo Meo, piano

Takemitsu, Toru - Rain Tree Sketch I

Toru Takemitsu; Rain Tree Sketch II
Lorenzo Meo, piano

Takemitsu, Toru - Rain Tree Sketch II

Litany, Toru Takemitsu

Toru Takemitsu's work for the classical guitar recorded in 2012 as part of my Studio Experience module during my postgrad at RCM.

Engineer: Ben Connellan
Producer: Lily Thornton.

All In Twilight - I (Toru Takemitsu)

All In Twilight - II: Dark (Toru Takemitsu)

All In Twilight - III (Toru Takemitsu)

All In Twilight - IV: Slightly Fast (Toru Takemitsu)

Gábor Podhorszky - baroque gitar
Orsi Toldi - vocal

Che Si Puo Fare

Barbara Strozzi Che Si Puo Fare

Eric Roche rarely played this piece in concert, and when he did it was by request, announced only by its title.

Audio taken from this video of me playing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtHdPLT9xBY

Steel Road (Eric Roche)

Will be at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this Summer, 17th - 23rd Aug! Only 70 seats available for each show and tickets selling fast, so buy now to avoid disappointment: tinyurl.com/ogvdppa
Come say hello on Facebook: www.facebook.com/declanzapalaguitar

This is a piece that started life as an Irish jig but ended up becoming some strange disjointed rhapsody! Hope you like!

This can be downloaded as a single for 79p on iTunes - all funds raised through January, February, and March 2013 are going the the homeless charity Crisis (www.crisis.org.uk)

Audio is captured from a live video of me playing it which can be viewed on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNtXpC1FcG8

Broken Rhapsody - Solo Guitar

Performed with the Brooklyn College Percussion Ensemble, directed by Frank Cassara.

Solo vibraphone/crotales: Cory Bracken
Marimbas/crotales: Matt Johnson, Pat O'Reilly

Rain Tree, Toru Takemitsu; Whitman Hall, Spring 2010

Will be at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this Summer, 17th - 23rd Aug! Only 70 seats available for each show and tickets selling fast, so buy now to avoid disappointment: http://tinyurl.com/ogvdppa
Come say hello on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/declanzapalaguitar

Audio taken from my live YouTube performance which can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FJHapbRtvI. This is being released as a charity single with all money made throughout June, July and August 2013 going directly to the homeless charity Crisis (www.crisis.org.uk), It can be downloaded as a 'Pay What You Want' single here: http://declanzapala.bandcamp.com/track/crystal - 100% of proceeds are going to the charity so please donate generously when purchasing the track, its a great cause. Most importantly, please just take a sec to share the video on Facebook/Twitter or whatever social media site you're on to help promote the cause. 

About the piece: Written a few years back whilst I was reading the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, a full description of why I wrote it is in the video description...

Now avaialble on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/crystal-single/id663681655

Crystal

Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!

I'm a guitarist based in the historical market town of Watford, England. Over the last few years I've have allowed my experience as a classical guitarist, drummer, and compulsive tapper to influence how I write and programme music.

Anyway, I hope you like!


Don't be a stranger!:0)



Dec