From Film To Stage
A Tribute to Toru Takemitsu features Coba (Yasuhiro Kobayashi) on the accordion.
(Kennedy Center)
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Toru Takemitsu, the leading Japanese composer of the last century, came to the world's attention in the late '50s with his moving "Requiem for Strings." During the next 40 years, the composer created works that reflected Japanese musical traditions as well as Western influences. His pieces could be soothing or jarring, inviting or challenging, and were unmistakably original.
But Takemitsu, who died in 1996, also composed 93 scores for art films (the battle epic "Ran," the erotic "Woman in the Dunes" and ghost-driven "Kwaidan"), documentaries and lighter movies. It is that aspect of the composer's work that will be the focus of the Takemitsu tribute Feb. 9 at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater. The tribute is curated by his daughter, Maki Takemitsu.
"We wanted to expose people in the United States to a different side of my father's music," she said.
Musicians from Japan who knew Takemitsu and his music arranged his film scores to perform in their own style.
The quartet of musicians features Coba, whose real name is Yasuhiro Kobayashi, on the accordion; guitarists Kazumi Watanabe and Daisuke Suzuki; and percussionist Tomohiro Yahiro.
Takemitsu's musical diversity is reflected in the program, which includes "Dodes'kaden" (from Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film of the same name); "Jose Torres" (from a 1959 boxing documentary); and "Crazed Fruit/Juvenile Passion," Takemitsu's first score, for the 1956 teen drama "Crazed Fruit."
"He was very flexible," Takemitsu said of her father's composing. "Sometimes he wrote a very sweet, melodic style of music and sometimes it was more like his [challenging] concert music. It depended on the story, the scenario of the film and maybe the characters themselves."
-- Richard Harrington
A TRIBUTE TO TORU TAKEMITSU Feb. 9 at 7:30 in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600 orhttp:/
