A String Around Autumn - Toru Takemitsu

Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu works within the Western tradition of composition and as such has often been asked whether he can truly understand the music. His reply would be that many Japanese people do not understand the tradition of their own music.

The composer claims he was moved by Western composers, but Japanese music left him cold and reminded him of the war.

He was a largely self-taught musician and listened to traditional music from an early age, as well as his father's jazz recordings.

After the war, he was exposed to music via the US Armed Forces network and learned his craft by studying the music of Debussy, Franck and Messiaen.

These influences are clearly audible in all four works featured on this recording, none more so than the title piece, A String Around Autumn, written in 1989 for viola and orchestra.

The piece begins with an almost ethereal sound as though you have walked in on the middle of a concert. This centred feel continues throughout the piece and matches the composer's fascination with pan-tonality - the use of every note as a tonal centre.

His use of the orchestra as a whole instead of in traditional sections is clear. The scoring is so intricate it is often quite difficult to detect just which instruments are being called into play at any given moment.

Although a formal melody is not part of the equation, there are definite motifs played out from the beginning, providing the listener with a growing sense of "home" as the work progresses.

Philip Dukes' viola playing is second to none in this context.

Takemitsu's scoring ear is not constrained by instruments' natural range. He calls for harmonics from every chair in the orchestra, and, at the other end of the stave, his use of the very bass notes of the double basses add a touch of sinister drama, particularly in the more soulful A Way a Lone II.

If you like the music of Debussy and Messiaen, I urge you to give this superb recording a try. Switch the volume up high and wallow in the rich sounds produced by the the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

BIS CD 1300