Banished Orin, film score

• Composer: Toru Takemitsu
• Period: Modern (1910-1949)

Review

Takemitsu's music for director Masahiro Shinoda's exquisite "Banished Orin" (a.k.a. "The Ballad of Orin", "Orin, A Blind Woman", "Melody in Gray", Banished", "Hanre Goze Orin", "Honore Goze Orin") underscores the emotion on the screen but also supplies much of the sense of the inevitable that is not apparent from the visuals alone. The deeply sad plot concerns the banishment of a blind Geisha from her community because of her sexual desires. The film follows her lonely wandering and its hardships. Eventually she commits suicide. All of these events are presented in a real and unflinching manner. The primary musical cue opens with a rhythmic harp arpeggio in deep reverberation. We hear strange metallic sliding noises, fantastic bird-like sounds, and a lovely yet eerie lament is played by a solo oboe - Takemitsu returns to this texture several times in the kind of rondo form that he often used. There is a brief string transition followed by short stabs from the harp. A rich string orchestra entrance brings momentary warmth to the bardo we are passing through. But this evaporates as the fantastic landscape sounds come to the fore again. The opening oboe refrain is recapitulated and the harp is left alone to pluck single tones. The rich string orchestra interrupts with the oboe, yet again the solo harp repeats its isolated tones. The strings tremble and make harsh snapping, Bartòk-like staccatos. Once more the oboe emerging sailing through the alien soundscape. A metallic shaker alternates with the strings. Then icy slidings like the sounds of an ancient psalter combine with the previous main theme instruments as the cue slowly fades away. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Rovi

Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work

Title	Date
The Film Music Of Toru Takemitsu	1997

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