A shade painted in the tranquility will indicate dream which has no form. “Quotation of Dream” is written for two pianos and orchestra. This piece was a commissioned work for ‘Japan Festival 1991’ held in the UK in October 1991, and the first performance was played by P. Serkin, P. Crossley (piano), M. T. Thomas (conduct) and London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Takemitsu considered dream as an important concept. According to him, the form of dream in this piece is clear in details in contrast to its extremely vague structure as a whole. “Quotation of Dream” is made up of 12 fragmental episodes. Music that appear and disappear just like in one’s memory is exactly the dream Takemitsu imagined.

Quotation is an important compositional technique. In this piece, “Sea” by C. Debussy is quoted by Takemitsu; we can confirm bold quotation of ‘Play of Wave’, ‘Conversation between Wind and Sea’ and ‘from a Dawn above the Sea to the Middle of Noon’.

Furthermore, the subtitle contains quotation as well; ‘Say sea, take me!’ is a stanza of a poem by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson.