Toru Takemitsu

'I am very proud of my friend Toru Takemitsu. He is the first Japanese composer to write for a world audience and achieve international recognition.' - Seiji Ozawa

Born in Tokyo on 8 October 1930, Takemitsu was largely self-taught and became influenced by twentieth century European composers - particularly Debussy, Messiaen and Webern.

At the beginning of his career he avoided the Japanese artistic tradition, as a member of the Jikken Kobo (a 1950s experimental workshop for avant-garde Japanese art), and began to use tape in his early works.

In the 1960s he first heard and was impressed by the music of John Cage, and this may have led to his introducing traditional Japanese music elements into his work.

By 1970 he had established himself as a leading avant-garde composer, and began to refine his style, leading to works such as A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden from 1977. His later works, from about 1980, began to make more use of melodic elements, and brought a closer synthesis of Eastern and Western styles.

This later music is unmistakeable - gentle, subtle and slow, inspired by (or seeking) rain, wind, trees, islands, song, and floating in time-space, connecting opposites such as East and West, life and death, music and silence, tradition and innovation.

In addition to his concert music, Takemitsu wrote the music for nearly a hundred Japanese films, including Kurosawa's Ran.

Takemitsu died in Tokyo on 20 February 1996, aged 65.