of
by
Peter Grilli
of
by
Peter Grilli
Peter Grilli is executive director of the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia Unizersity in New York. A longtime friend of Takemitsu Toru, he was the composer's personal representative in the United States. He has been active in cultural exchanges between Japan and the United States for many years as a writer, filmmaker consultant and performing-arts producer.
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he world has only just begun to comprehend the enormity of the loss of Takemitsu Toru. Since his death February 20, 1996, the passage of time has dulled somewhat the pain felt by Takemitsu's closest friends and the shock experienced by his countless admirers. But time cannot fill the void he left. We find ourselves needing him more, and missing him more. Every day that passes brings a deepening realisation that the emptiness will not - cannot - be filled. No one can take his place Not as a composer. Not as a friend Not as a man.
As might be expected Takemitsu's death at the age of 65 set off a stream of memorial concerts. Within a week, orchestras that included the Vienna Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony and the NHK Symphony Orchestra had rearranged their scheduled programs to substitute a Takemitsu work in a gesture of mourning. Many of the world's finest instrumentalists and ensembles - Peter .Serkin, Richard Stoltzman, Imai Nobuko, the Tokyo String Quartet, among many others - expressed their grief by immediately adding his works to their concerts. There followed, in subsequent months. dozens of all-Takemitsu memorial concerts .and hundreds of recitals featuring his music. New recordings of his works appeared in profusion. and man more are awaiting release. But the more his musical works are heard all over the world. the more intensely his absence is felt. Of other great composers, one might say "But the music lives on ....". Their compositions are testimony to their immortality. In Takemitsu's case that is true enough: Indeed, his music has never been more frequently performed And yet, something is still missing. It is his own magical presence, the special charisma of the man himself and all that he represented. The absence of Takemitsu's intellect, his vision, his wit and wisdom makes the passing time seem pale and empty.
Although known chiefly as a composer and a man of music, Takemitsu occupied many worlds during his lifetime. Only now, suddenly deprived of his contribution to all of them can we begin to recognise how important he was. For Japan, Takemitsu was an unofficial cultural ambassador to the world. His innate modesty and his sense of artistic privacy would certainly make him shun such a title but he fully deserved it nonetheless. He was never appointed to such a distinguished role by any prime minister or government agency, but Takemitsu's influence as an intellectual and cultural diplomat was unprecedented and now seems impossible to replace. As Japan struggles to assert its rightful place in the international dialogue of arts and ideas (alongside its primacy in the marketplace of goods and services) is there anyone else who can move as comfortably and confidently among the intellectuals of the world? Can anyone else claim as rich and varied a range of friendships and personalities among the world's artists and men of letters? Is there another Japanese artist as admired, as cherished, as trusted and as loved by audiences and fellow artists around the world?
Takemitsu's greatest achievements extend far beyond his chosen world of music. Music was his particular language, to be sure, but universal communication was his goal. Through him, the purest legacy of Japanese cultural traditions could be comprehended by outsiders, and through his eyes, scores of sensitive artists from all over the world came to "see" and appreciate Japan. Like any fine ambassador, his service extended in both directions. Those same eyes allowed his fellow Japanese new perceptions of world culture and unique insight into contemporary arts. With selfless dedication, Takemitsu introduced to Japanese audiences the international avant-garde in music through the annual "Music Today" series that he organised and supervised for nearly three decades. And by his perceptive reading and commentary on world literature and art - from Mark Twain to James Joyce to Samuel Beckett and painter Marcel Ducham - he helped Japanese readers appreciate and participate in the international give and take of ideas.
This article was originally written for the Japan Quarterly January - March 1997 edition and is published here with the kind permission of Peter Grilli.
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