Toru Takemitsu Composition Award

Creativity — A Wonder

To be able to be creative, to be permitted to compose, is a gift — and a blessing. And yet composing is, in the most beautiful and literal sense, also hand-craft. What is it, then, that we as composers actually do? We place dots, strokes and lines on paper, hoping to convey to the performers — and ultimately to the audience — what we wish to express. It remains a magical process: to have these musical signs, scattered across many pages, brought to life by singers and instrumentalists, made to sound. We composers strive to formulate our musical symbols as clearly and precisely as possible, so that the musicians understand them and — in a second process of translation — communicate them to the audience, to the listeners. That is the technical, but not only technical, aspect of our creative work. There must be something within us that has to come out! A sonic or formal vision, the absolute determination to articulate our musical ideas in just this way, and not in any other.

And that, the taking of decisions concerning sound, instrumentation and form, is something profoundly personal, individual. I have the deepest respect for anyone who expresses themselves artistically — be it as a painter, poet, composer or as an actor or musician who steps onto the stage and, as it were, externalises themselves, sharing their innermost feelings and thoughts with others. And so it was for me when reading and studying the submitted scores for the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award: a sense of respect for every one of these artistic voices. One wishes to do justice to each score — and therefore to each person behind it — however delightfully different the musical languages and aesthetics may be. And yet, at the end of the day, after much weighing up, one must take a decision. And that hurts. For — with few exceptions — the standard of the submitted scores was remarkably high in one respect: in the knowledge and command of today’s sonic possibilities and playing techniques. In other words: most can write for orchestra with extraordinary expertise. A great number of the scores operate with complex, finely differentiated textures. Admirable as this is, it also has a paradoxical aspect: behind all these virtuously crafted textures, it often becomes difficult to discern an individual, a personal voice, the human being behind the piece. To put it differently: the great Ligeti once asked himself, when reading a Mozart Mass: Is that new? And he concluded: not necessarily — but it is radically individual and unique! If I may, I would passionately urge everyone to trust their own voice, to listen to it, and to let it sound. What makes beauty? asks Baudelaire, whose poems in the mid-19th century flung open the door to modernity. And he answers at once, somewhat cryptically: Monotony, balance. But then: And surprise! Paraphrasing Baudelaire, I would say: perfectly balanced, “even” textures I have read and heard in countless forms. Surprise rather less often. Just have courage, without worrying about causing offence by your very own individuality! Your own musical language becomes easier to recognize when it clearly differs from others — and from the texture-focused language that now often seems to be standard. Even within textures, you can express something very personal and unique!

And it lies in the nature of things that of course my selection was also highly individual. And so it should be — that is the magnificent idea behind the Takemitsu Composition Award. Someone else might have decided quite differently, and that would be good as well.

My thanks go to all participants of the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award; it pains me to have to disappoint so many of them. I know this feeling only too well from my own experience: as a young man I submitted my works to competitions — they were never selected. But life’s paths differ, and above all they are unpredictable. One must keep one’s gaze directed forwards. Sempre avanti!

It has been an honour and a pleasure to make this preliminary selection for the final of the 2026 Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, and I look forward with curiosity and excitement to hearing these works in Tokyo.