A piece in six movements for the traditional "Gagaku" ensemble, the central movement was composed in 1973 and the other five in 1979. The ensemble for this work consists of 29 performers seated in 4 groups: the "autumn garden" seated stage center, Group A "tree spirits I" seated stage back with Groups B and C "tree spirits II and III" seated audience left and right. This seating recreates the ancient idea of gagaku as outdoors music - for strolling in a garden for example - and allows the composer to build in the kind of spatial and temporal delays that would naturally happen with the movement of the sound. Of course, the gagaku ensemble has music for it going back into antiquity and "a world of sound filled with a captivating allure not belonging to this world" (Takemitsu). By carefully studying the capabilities of the instruments, the composer was able to create some new sounds - for example, the lower ranges of the hichinki are used to play Middle Eastern sounding melodies, and the music uses the Greek dorian modal scale (a favorite of Takemitsu's used in "The Dorian Horizon" for example) with movable tonics and quarter-tones and also employs secondary melodic lines as in Indonesian gamelan music, all practices not used in the traditional gagaku music. The first movement "Strophe" begins with a single gentle wood chopping sound which is then echoed on left and right setting up a rhythmic sequence as a character which appears from time to time. The sho and other sustaining instruments play ethereal polyharmonic sustains. The koto is treated for its percussive qualities and associated with the wood sound. The charming second movement "Echo I" imitates the calls of small birds among the trees. The sho suggests ascending flight. The third movement "Melisma" is based around a solo hichinki melody, echoed by the other six hichinki of the surrounding groups in unison or delayed. The music has a somewhat sorrowful quality like that found in the folk music of Japan and the Middle East (which was one of the main sources of ancient gagaku music). The 4th movement "In An Autumn Garden" begins with Group A playing material which the "tree spirits" groups respond to by echoing fragments of the sound. Several variations follow. Then there is a transitional part with koto and biwa alone playing percussively. Interweaving sinuous wind lines appear as a continuously internally moving sound cluster to which are added percussive beats and koto arpeggios. A melodic song with casually strolling rhythm appears, played in unison and echo (fragmented imitative canon). This movement ends with a classical gagaku coda. The 5th movement "Echo II" both sustained tone colors and bird songs are echoed and distributed among the ensemble. This movement has a somewhat more mysterious and tense air than the previous "Echo I". In movement VI "Antistrophe" is a variation on and response to the beginning "Strophe" movement. The harmonic variation is greater and the bird-calls seem to be "answers" to the bird calls. The wood rhythm is heard again in delays, then at the last beat in almost exact unison. The work suddenly concludes. ~ All Music Guide
