November 9, 1967.

New York, New York. New York Philharmonic. Seiji Ozawa; conductor.

As seen in the program from the premiere of November Steps by Toru Takemitsu, the piece was originally commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for the orchestra’s 125th anniversary, and its first performance was conducted by Seiji Ozawa on November 9, 1967, at the Philharmonic Hall in New York. A review of a performance of the piece by the Chicago Symphony in Ravinia Park published in the Chicago Tribune from August of 1968 mentions how the two main instruments used in the performance were “entirely unfamiliar,” those being the biwa and the shakuhachi. As described in the program from the premiere, the biwa is a 4-stringed lute, typically used in Japanese storytelling, while the shakuhachi can be likened to a large vertical recorder-like flute traditionally crafted from bamboo. 

The point of the piece, as also stated in the program, was to extend Takemitsu’s experimental style by incorporating the two worlds of Western and Eastern traditional instruments. Toru Takemitsu was a largely self-taught and prolific composer of the 20th century who specialized in showcasing unique instrumental timbres as well as combining techniques that drew from both tradition and modernity. Takemitsu’s music was already quite experimental at this point, as he had organized composer and artist groups such as the “Experimental Workshop” in 1951 and “Orchestral Space” in 1966. The latter, as stated by Allan Kozinn in the New York Times on July 5, 1988, was formed in part to introduce experimental orchestral pieces from both America and Europe that had not been heard in Japan. 

Comparing Japanese and American perspectives on the piece puts the relevance and reception of the piece into context. The first published review written by Raymond Ericson of the New York Times the day following the premiere describes the integration of the two styles as “smooth” because of Takemitsu’s sensitivity to timbre, but it states that sections where the Japanese instruments played alone were “without meaning to these Western ears.” Furthermore, an unnamed Western writer from the Chicago Tribune on August 7, 1968, nine months after the premiere, describes the piece as a “puzzler” because of its use of aforementioned unconventional instruments as well as the consistent utilization of melodic intervals of a quarter-tone or less, something rarely seen in Western music. To contrast, a review published in the New York Times by Takashi Oka on September 2, 1970, of a performance of the piece by the New York Philharmonic during their tour of Osaka remarked that a 15-minute ovation was given to the entire concert, November Steps being the second of three total pieces performed that night. 

By the late 1980s, it seems reviews of Takemitsu’s works in general became softer and more appreciative of the experimental leaps he took, especially when composing his most avant-garde pieces, such as November Steps. Allan Kozinn from the New York Times said that the music brought a “freshness” to the West that was welcome in part because of a “gentle, impressionistic quality” in the music. This seems to suggest the music brought something profound, something more than just an experimental piece from a prolific and talented composer but a standard for Japanese and American composers alike to look at and learn from.

Generally speaking, the music of November Steps can be described as chaotic, dissonant, and with a distinct lack of perceivable tempo and consistent melody. As far as consistency, the only consistent parts of the piece are the two Japanese instruments featured, the biwa and the shakuhachi. The former is used as a rhythmic instrument and is either struck, heavily plucked, or played aggressively throughout, while the shakuhachi creates the closest thing to a melody that exists in the piece. 

At many points, these two instruments are the only that can be heard, which helps craft these interesting, almost improvised-sounding phrases. One notable moment involving the biwa, as heard in the recording by the Saito Kinen Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa, is when the instrument seems to be hit and the strings quickly rubbed, utilizing a part of the instrument not typically used to create music. This is just one example of the many strange and interesting sounds throughout the piece, many of which are hard to attribute to a specific instrument or action. 

The dynamic contrast within the piece is quite large. In several locations, the volume of the music spans from nearly silent to cacophonous and busy in a matter of seconds. Because of the lack of predictability and consistency, these volume changes come as a complete surprise and can be quite unsettling to hear as the listener, but that observation could represent a Western bias. After all, both Western reviews appearing in the New York Times mentioned a general disconnect between the music and the listener. Most of the piece is played quietly and subtly with only one or few instruments playing at a time, accentuating the microtonal system used by Takemitsu. It is easy to see how audience members, particularly Americans who aren’t familiar with the featured instruments nor the musical style and techniques being used, would be most put off by this piece had they not been prepared.

Questions for Classroom Discussion

1. How is the title, “November Steps”, relevant to the orchestration and composition of the piece?

2. How does Toru Takemitsu blend Eastern and Western musical elements together, and is it coherent?

3. Takemitsu, as quoted in the program for the premiere of November Steps, stated that his inspirations while composing the piece included “this daily life, including all of music and nature.” How, if at all, are these inspirations exemplified in November Steps?

4. What musical elements make the piece so experimental and how do these elements challenge typical symphonic structure and instrumentation? 

5. Would you consider November Steps to have had a successful premiere? Why or why not?

Bibliography/Further Reading

Primary Sources

Downes, Edward. "November Steps." Program notes. New York Philharmonic. November 9, 1967. https://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/b450816b-dcd3-45bc-8ebf-88a695a0d209-0.1/fullview#page/6/mode/2up.

Ericson, Raymond. "Ozawa Conducts at Philharmonic." New York Times (November 10, 1967): 57. 

Henahan, Donal. "Strings: Tokyo Quartet in a Premiere." New York Times (February 25, 1982). 

"Music from Orient Pleases, Mystifies." Chicago Tribune (August 7, 1968). 

Oka, Takashi. "Osaka Finds Philharmonic 'Wonderful!'" New York Times (September 2, 1970): 32. 

Secondary Sources

Cornwell, Lew. "Toru Takemitsu's November Steps." Journal of New Music Research (2002).

Kakinuma, Toshie. "Sneezing Toward the Sun: The Human Voice in the Musique concrete of Toru Takemitsu." Contemporary Music Review (2018). 

Smaldone, Edward. "Japanese and Western Confluences in Large-Scale Pitch Organization of Toru Takemitsu's November Steps and Autumn." Perspectives of New Music (1989).