Toru Takemitsu quotes

Toru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer renowned for blending Western classical music with traditional Japanese sounds. His innovative use of tone color and texture set him apart in 20th-century music. He greatly influenced both contemporary composers and the global appreciation of Japanese music. Here are 7 of his quotes:

Composition gives proper meaning to the natural streams of sound that penetrate the world.

Toru Takemitsu

Although I am basically self taught, I consider Debussy my teacher - the most important elements are colour, light and shadow.

Toru Takemitsu

Music is a form of prayer.

Toru Takemitsu

Music should be able to invoke the natural emotions in all human beings. Music is not notes fixed on apiece of paper.

Toru Takemitsu

The art music of the West has developed through out its history by means of individual geniuses, and out of the soil supporting them; non-Western musicians were born, and grew like the grasses of the field.

Toru Takemitsu

I probably belong to a type of composer of songs who keeps thinking about melody... I am old fashioned.

Toru Takemitsu