Toru Takemitsu was writing “November Steps” for traditional Japanese instruments and the New York Philharmonic, an experiment in authentically bridging East and West in classical music in ways never before thought feasible. These steps can connote the dan, the sections in Japanese Noh theater, but only in a vague way. It turns out to be easier to say what “November Steps” is not rather than what it is. “My first New York November steps,” he wrote in a short essay about the piece, “had finally been taken.”AdvertisementThose steps got longer. The cultural journey that began for Takemitsu in “November Steps” led to something far beyond fusion and not exactly integration.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 30, 2020 13:03 UTC