Analysis Of Composition Technique Of Toru Takemitsu’s Nostalghia

Toru Takemitsu(1939-1996) is a well-known 20th century Japanese composer who gained his world-wild reputation by large number of music works of different types in which not only the spirit of traditional Japanese music and the color of contemporary music merge together but also a very personal style emerges. In view of this, an in-depth and systematic analysis of his works which combine east and west will certainly be valuable as reference for today’s musical composition and study in China.Within this paper a representative work of Takemitsu’s, Nostalghia-in Memory of Andrei Tarkovskij (for solo violin and string orchestra), is chosen as the subject while its origin, research status, background of composition and constitute of technique are discussed comprehensively.This dissertation is formed by 6 parts:the introduction,4 chapters and the epilogue.In the introduction, Takemitsu’s personal life, his composition experience and the background of writing of Nostalghia are summarized.The 4 chapters are the main part of this paper.Chapter 1 involves the discussion of the pitch organization in Nostalghia, including the core cell and both vertical and horizontal pitch structure. Chapter 2 involves the discussion of the pattern of rhythm and meter and the effect of tempo in the piece. The 3rd chapter is mainly about orchestration technique of the piece, while the layout of timbre structure and different kinds of musical terms which enrich the acoustic effect of the work are discussed. Chapter 4 focused on both macro and micro form structure of the piece.The epilogue is a concise summary of contents discussed and points of view in the paper.