Toru Takemitsu: “Rain Tree Sketch” (1982) – Paul Crossley, piano.

Toru Takemitsu created his own unique musical language by merging elements of Eastern and Western traditions.

The origin of the Rain Tree Sketch can be traced back to Takemitsus Rain Tree (1981) for percussion trio. Rain Tree (the percussion trio) was based on a description of a rain tree in Kenzaburo Oe’s novel Clever Rain Tree (1980). Oe’s story describes a tree with countless tiny leaves that collect and retain water from the morning rain shower so that throughout the day, after the storm has abated, the rain still falls from the tree. In Oes novel, the rain tree is used as a metaphor of water circulating in the cosmos.

Takemitsu employed Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition in order to construct pitch collections evocative of cosmic imagery. Takemitsu carefully notates differentiated dynamics and accents, as well as precise pedaling techniques to lend careful nuance to these moment-to-moment contours.