Program Notes November Steps by Toru Takemitsu

     When Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa played a tape of Eclipse, a composition for two Japanese traditional instruments, Shakuhachi and Biwa by Toru Takemitsu (1930-1936) to his mentor Leonard Bernstein, who was a music director of the New York Philharmonic at that time, one special idea came to Bernstein’s mind. It is to have a piece written combining Japanese traditional instruments with the western orchestra (Takemitsu 62). In 1967, the New York Philharmonic commissioned Toru Takemitsu to write the piece for its 125th anniversary, and November Steps was premiered in November 1967 under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. In fact, since the instruments of Shakuhachi and Biwa were not well-known in New York at that time, some members from the Philharmonic suggested that any American musicians can substitute with their flute and harp so they can save money and satisfy the union regulations (Blasdel). However, since its premiere in 1967, November Steps has been performed throughout the world, and the instruments of Shakuhachi and Biwa are widely known among musicians today.

     November Steps is the first piece that combines Japanese traditional instruments with western instruments. Its fascination with the combination of western music and eastern music attracted many musicians and music fans to compare and contrast both aspects through this piece. However, Takemitsu commented "It is very easy to adapt Japanese traditional music to Western music, and not difficult to blend the two. But, I am not interested in either of these options.” (Nakatani 3) Takemitsu intended to acknowledge the coexistence of two opposite musical values in this piece rather than attempting to put Japanese musical aesthetics into sonata form or western tonality. It is often misunderstood that November Steps is a tone poem about fall. However, Takemitsu clarifies the title of the piece by saying "it was performed in November, and to me, that project represented a new step: thus, I titled the work November Steps.” (Takemitsu 62).

     November Steps is based on the idea of danmono, and the term originates in the set of Koto music and has a similar meaning as variations in western music (Nakatani 7). Each danmono piece consists of several “dan” which means “step.” (Adriaansz) It was a new step for Takemitsu as well as for music history to begin a new way of combining different cultures through the sounds. The structure of the entire piece is based on 11 sections or 11 steps (dan), including the long cadenza by Shakuhachi and Biwa towards the end of the piece. There are two big pauses in the piece as Takemitsu notates as “keep silence” with a fermata on top. This is one of the most significant aesthetic concepts as well as the element that is rooted in every aspect of Japanese life, which means “time-space” (Hung Lie 257). The concept of ma enhances the powerfulness and the resonance of the sounds of Shakuhachi and Biwa.

     Although November Steps does not depict specific sceneries or impressions of autumn, it is clear to say that the expression of the sound world in the piece closely relates to nature. The recreation of the sound of wind by Shakuhachi and the irregularity of reoccurring percussive events in nature by Biwa will transform you into the sublime experience.

< References >

Adriaansz, Willem. The Kumiuta and Danmono Traditions of Japanese Koto Music. University of California Press, 1973. 

Blasdel, Christopher Y. “Retracing Takemitsu’s ‘Steps.’” The Japan Times, 19 Feb. 2000. www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2000/02/19/music/retracing-takemitsus-steps/. 

Hung Lie, Lena Pek. “Challenging Cultural Borders: Tōru Takemitsu’s Claim to Creative Transgressions .” 2011 International Conference on Humanities, Society and Culture , 2011. 

Nakatani, Yoko. “November Steps” and “Autumn”: A Comparative Analysis of Two Orchestral

Works by Toru Takemitsu, Brandeis University, Ann Arbor, 2005. ProQuest, 

http://proxy.library.jhu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/305028282?accountid=11752.

Takemitsu Tōru, et al. Confronting Silence: Selected Writings. Scarecrow Press, 1995.