Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
Takemitsu: Complete Works for Piano
Piano Classics

Takemitsu: Complete Works for Piano

$21.99

Details

Composer
TAKEMITSU, TORU
Artist
Lukas Huisman
Format
CD
Label
Piano Classics
Released
Jul 27, 2018
Catalog #
PCL10147
UPC
5029365101479

About

Although the composer once admitted that he took the title for Rain Tree Sketch from a can of shaving foam, the piece and several others in this invaluable collection share a watery theme which links them back to the music of Debussy as well as the more obvious influence of Messiaen. This collection of Takemitsu's piano music is filled with a quizzical air and often touches of oblique humor, as though someone is smiling, somewhere. With warm, softly resounding chords and pitter-pattering melodic motifs above, Takemitsu's piano so often evokes rain gently falling on earth and leaves. There are bright, brisk flashes of light as well as a pervasive undertone of melancholy, which in a work such as Les Yeux Clos can be accounted for by the work's nature as a memorial to a friend. The poetic title of For Away is matched by the distant reverie of it's notes: 'my expression of extolment,' according to the composer, 'and an offering to the Galaxy of Life - a galaxy that is not the sole domain of mankind.' This is among the most harmonically spare and experimental works on the album, whereas Litany draws inspiration from Eastern modes as well as their reinterpretation at the hands of Debussy and Messiaen. Perhaps the boldest piece Takemitsu wrote for piano is Piano Distance, which is notated without a clear metre in the hyper-distilled style of Webern. Born in 1987, the Belgian pianist Lukas Huisman has made a speciality of new music, studying with the likes of Ian Pace and Geoffrey Douglas Madge. Through these and other teachers he has immersed himself in the complex worlds of Brian Ferneyhough and Kaiksohru Sorabji, among others, requiring a phenomenal technique as well as an appetite for the unfamiliar and challenging.

Tracklist 15 tracks

  1. 1 Ame no ki sobyo II (Rain Tree Sketch II), "In memoriam Olivier Messiaen": Rain Tree Sketch II 03:24
    Track
    1
    Title
    Ame no ki sobyo II (Rain Tree Sketch II), "In memoriam Olivier Messiaen": Rain Tree Sketch II
    Duration
    03:24
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  2. 2 Les yeux clos II 08:11
    Track
    2
    Title
    Les yeux clos II
    Duration
    08:11
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  3. 3 Ame no ki (Rain Tree Sketch): Rain Tree Sketch 04:29
    Track
    3
    Title
    Ame no ki (Rain Tree Sketch): Rain Tree Sketch
    Duration
    04:29
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  4. 4 Les yeux clos 06:25
    Track
    4
    Title
    Les yeux clos
    Duration
    06:25
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  5. 5 No. 1. Breeze 00:49
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 1. Breeze
    Duration
    00:49
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  6. 6 No. 2. Clouds 01:37
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 2. Clouds
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  7. 7 For away 06:05
    Track
    7
    Title
    For away
    Duration
    06:05
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  8. 8 Piano Distance 04:59
    Track
    8
    Title
    Piano Distance
    Duration
    04:59
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  9. 9 I. Slowly, sadly and as if to converse with 01:56
    Track
    9
    Title
    I. Slowly, sadly and as if to converse with
    Duration
    01:56
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  10. 10 II. Quietly and with a cruel reverberation 03:06
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Quietly and with a cruel reverberation
    Duration
    03:06
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  11. 11 III. A song of love 01:18
    Track
    11
    Title
    III. A song of love
    Duration
    01:18
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  12. 12 I. Adagio (con rubato) 05:06
    Track
    12
    Title
    I. Adagio (con rubato)
    Duration
    05:06
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  13. 13 II. Lento misterioso 04:55
    Track
    13
    Title
    II. Lento misterioso
    Duration
    04:55
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  14. 14 Romance 04:17
    Track
    14
    Title
    Romance
    Duration
    04:17
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman
  15. 15 De Brauwer: Something, Something: 'n' Rain 'n' Such 05:35
    Track
    15
    Title
    De Brauwer: Something, Something: 'n' Rain 'n' Such
    Duration
    05:35
    Composer
    Tōru Takemitsu
    Performer
    Lukas Huisman