Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-287) and index.

Pre-history : how Western music came to Japan. -- Music and 'pre-music' : Takemitsu's early years. -- Experimental workshop : the years of Jikken Ko¯bo¯. -- The Requiem and its reception. -- Projections on to a Western mirror. -- 'Cage shock' and after. -- Projections on to a Eastern mirror. -- Modernist apogee : the early 1970s. -- Descent into the pentagonal garden. -- Towards the sea of tonality : the works of the 1980s. -- Beyond the far calls : the final years. -- Swimming in the ocean that has no West or East.

Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) was the best-known Japanese composer of his generation, bringing aspects of Eastern and Western traditions together, yet he remained something of an elusive figure. The composer's own commentaries about his music, poetic and philosophical in tone, have tended to deepen the mystery and much writing on Takemitsu to date has adopted a similar attitude, leaving many questions about his compositional methods unanswered. This book is the first complete study of the composer's work to appear in English. It is also the first book in this language to offer an in-depth analysis of his music. Takemitsu's works are increasingly popular with Western audiences and Peter Burt attempts for the first time to shed light on the hitherto rather secretive world of his working methods, as well as place him in context as heir to the rich tradition of Japanese composition in the twentieth century.