Toru Takemitsu - Cantos: Fantasma-Cantos; Water Ways; Waves; Quatrain II

Toru TAKEMITSU (1930-1996)

CANTOS 

Fantasma/Cantos / Water-Ways / Waves / Quatrain II

Richard Stoltzman (Clarinet) 

Ida Kavafian (Violin)

Peter Serkin (Piano)

Fred Sherry (Cello) 

BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra

Tadaaki Otaka

Among Toru Takemitsu's major supporters were the members of the Tashi quartet: violinist Ida Kavafian, pianist Peter Serkin, cellist Fred Sherry and clarinetist Richard Stolzman. This RCA disc from 1994 combines some recordings from the 1970s with the world-premiere recording of Takemitsu's late clarinet concerto. Note that a DG reissue complements this disc with other Tashi performances of Takemitsu, essential for fans of the composer and these four musicians.

The earliest work here is "Waves" for clarinet, 2 trombones, horn and bass drum (1976), which still show traces of Takemitsu's modernist middle period. Foreboding rumbles on the bass drum evoke the ocean tides, with the other instruments playing slow melodies which arise from that foundation. There's a great air of cosmic mystery and drama around "Waves".

The remaining works are pretty representative of Takemitsu's last two decades, when he wrote work after work of pretty but isolated gestures, each moment containing exquisite Debussyean detail but not really going in any particular direction. "Quatrain II" is one such piece, lovely but not too unmemorable. In "Fantasma/Cantos" for clarinet and orchestra (1991), the clarinet is only the most prominent strand in a lush orchestral texture. In the liner notes, Stolzman claims that the piece is a summation of 20th century clarinet techniques, but the instrument generally doesn't call attention to itself -- one must concentrate to perceive "Fantasma/Cantos" as concertante.

"Water-ways" (1978), however, is unusually goal-directed for late Takemitsu. It is scored for violin, piano, cello, clarinet, 2 harps and 2 vibraphones and based on the E flat-E-A motif common to Takemitsu's late music (S-E-A in German notation, thus the aquatic references). Although the motif is heard throughout the piece among the various instruments, only towards the end do they begin to play it together a single melody. The effect is ravishing.

This is a pretty fun disc. Even with the pieces that aren't so deep, the Tashi musicians have such a fine, distinctive tone that I can admire the musicianshi