BBC Music Magazine: Pick of the Month.
This album presents an expansive and intimate portrait of Tōru Takemitsu’s guitar music, interpreted by guitarist Franz Halász. It spans original compositions and richly textured arrangements that reflect the composer’s deep affinity for the instrument and its poetic possibilities.
The program includes works such as All in Twilight, inspired by a painting by Paul Klee and commissioned by Julian Bream, and In the Woods, Takemitsu’s final guitar work—three pieces dedicated to John Williams, Kiyoshi Shomura, and Julian Bream. These pieces illustrate Takemitsu’s late style, marked by clarity, rhythmic simplicity, and visual imagination.
Also featured are Equinox, a meditation on the balance of light and darkness expressed through retuned strings and arpeggiated motion, and Folios, his earliest solo guitar work, combining rain-like rhythms and a moving quote from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
Completing the album is a selection from Takemitsu’s 12 Songs, arrangements of Western standards and folk melodies—from Gershwin’s Summertime to Londonderry Air, The Last Waltz, and Beatles songs like Hey Jude and Michelle. These works transform familiar tunes with gentle dissonance, jazz harmonies, and sensitive voicings.
Takemitsu considered the guitar his favorite instrument, embracing its limitations as creative challenges and calling it “a beautiful instrument full of tonal variety.” This album reveals the breadth of his guitar writing—from contemplative to playful, from minimalist textures to lush harmonic colors.
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