“Two Lentos,” famously criticized by Ginji Yamane as “pre-music,” elicited varied critical reception at the time of its premiere. Taro Hara commented, “This sensibility (including the very fact that two Lentos are juxtaposed) is not of today,” “a work lacking universality,” and “fundamentally incapable of being an artistic state.” On the other hand, Kuniharu Akiyama and Joji Yuasa stated, “It was very good. I was moved.” Furthermore, in the liner notes for the record Toru Takemitsu’s Music (Victor, 1966), released 16 years after the premiere of Two Lentos, Hidekazu Yoshida remarked, “While I have forgotten almost all the other pieces performed at that time, I still remember only that piece.” He described Two Lentos as music where “the gentleness of sound and the inclination towards solitude blended, contradicted, and conflicted in a way never before experienced in any music,” music possessing “a solitary, reclusive severity that keeps people at bay,” and music that “sinks ever deeper into its interior.”

This Two Lentos, which elicited both praise and criticism, is a piano piece composed by Toru Takemitsu when he was 20 years old. At the recommendation of Fumio Hayasaka, it was performed on December 7, 1950 (Showa 25), at the 7th concert of the “Shin Sakkyoku-ha Kyokai” (New Composers Association).

Two Lentos. First, some may find this title unusual. However, the “Lento” that Takemitsu envisioned was not merely a tempo marking. Of course, it differs from a tempo measured by a metronome. It refers to a specific sense of time inherent in the term “Lento.” Conscious of Debussy’s La plus que lente, Takemitsu sought to weave a multitude of sounds within a leisurely musical flow.

The sounds emanating from Two Lentos possess a unique color. Around the time he composed this work, Takemitsu was researching pentatonic scales. Two Lentos is filled with rich sonic layers that emerge as it transitions from one pentatonic scale to another. Suspensions and passing tones are skillfully employed, transforming even dissonances into subtle delights. After composing the first movement, “Adagio,” Takemitsu became acquainted with Messiaen’s music. The second movement, “Lento Misteriosamente,” created under that influence, became an even more captivating and powerful work. From “Adagio” to the latter part of “Lento Misteriosamente,” the music ascends to higher registers with increasing speed and lightness, akin to the jo-ha-kyu progression.

This Two Lentos is effectively Toru Takemitsu’s debut work. It was performed by Haruko Fujita on piano at its premiere in 1950 and on NHK Radio’s “Contemporary Music” program in 1955. Although the score subsequently went missing, Takemitsu reconstructed Two Lentos in 1989, based on sketches held by his friend Kazuo Fukushima, “drawing on threads of memory without adding new embellishments,” completing it as the piano piece Litany.

Major References

• Takemitsu, Toru et al. The Collected Works of Toru Takemitsu, Vol. 5. Shinchosha, 2000.
• Tachibana, Takashi. Toru Takemitsu: A Journey to Musical Creation. Bungeishunju, 2016.
• Narasaki, Yoko. Toru Takemitsu (Composer: Person and Works Series). Ongaku no Tomo Sha, 2005.