Championed by Igor Stravinsky and central to the development of East/West music, he forged a style all his own; a dark and mysterious blend of Eastern and Western music and instrumentation, influenced by the likes of Debussy, Messiaen, serialism, and Japanese traditional music. Winner of numerous major awards and commissions, Takemitsu was also well known in Japan as a film composer, and has scored nearly a hundred films, including works by Akira Kurosawa, Hiroshi Teshigahara and Shohei Imamura. Takemitsu is today the inspiration for a new generation of composers such as Tan Dun, artists searching for a fresh language that utilizes both Western ritual and Eastern tradition.
Of all the "Joycean" composers who created works based on Finnegans Wake, I think Takemitsu is the one whose music comes closest to the very essence of the Wake itself. For Takemitsu, who ironically admitted to knowing more about the idea of Finnegans Wake than the actual text........