Concert Hall ATM

An Invitation to Traditional Performing Arts [Gagaku]Konjaku Gagaku-shū (Gagaku from Times Past) IV: Shūteiga Ichigu—Special Project Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Toru Takemitsu's Death—

"I had the impression that the sounds were rising, as if a tree were growing toward the heavens."

On October 6, 1961, composer Toru Takemitsu (1930–1996) heard gagaku, Japanese court music, live for the first time at the Imperial Household Agency in Tokyo. Deeply moved by the experience, he recorded these words in his diary. The sonorities of gagaku and its distinctive, non-Western sense of musical time would go on to profoundly shape his later works.

The fourth edition of the concert series Konjaku Gagaku-shū (Gagaku from Times Past) explores the world of gagaku as seen through the eyes of Toru Takemitsu, marking the 30th anniversary of the composer's death this year, with commentary by music critic Morihide Katayama.

Part One reconstructs selections from the 1961 Imperial Household Agency Autumn Gagaku Concert that so impressed Takemitsu. Interwoven among classical orchestral and dance pieces is Takemitsu's Distance for oboe and shō, performed by acclaimed oboist Kanami Araki and leading shō performer Mayumi Miyata. The echo-like sonorities of the shō explored in Distance would later evolve into the "Kodama" ("echo" or "tree spirits") instrumental groups in Takemitsu's gagaku masterpiece Shūteiga (In an Autumn Garden).

Part Two features Shūteiga Ichigu, the largest-scale work of Takemitsu's career. Centering on Shūteiga, composed in 1973, and expanded with five additional movements, the work stands as a landmark of contemporary gagaku. The performance will be given by Reigakusha, the renowned ensemble that has championed Shūteiga Ichigu since its founding. Following their 2018 performance of Shūteiga at Art Tower Mito, they now present "Ichigu," the complete cycle. Surrounding the audience with six groups of musicians, this immersive spatial soundscape fuses a millennium-old tradition with contemporary musical imagination. Here, Takemitsu's vision of "sound rising upward" comes vividly to life once again.

[Program]
Kangen (Court Instrumental Music): Taishikichō no netori, Gakkaen, Kashin, Batoh
Takemitsu: Distance (1972)
  Kanami Araki(Oboe), Mayumi Miyata (Shō)
Bugaku (Court Dance): Genjōraku (Right Dance)
Takemitsu: Shūteiga Ichigu (In an Autumn Garden — complete cycle)（1973/79）

*There will be a pre-talk by members of Reigakusha and Morihide Katayama starting at 15:45.

• Flyer [PDF]