4 Finalists selected for Toru Takemitsu Composition Award 2024
Mark-Anthony Turnage, judge of the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award 2024, has chosen the following 4 orchestral works out of 102 entries from 27 countries (Countries & Regions) eligibly accepted by 29 September 2023. Screening was done with the anonymous scores having only their titles.
These 4 nominated works will be performed on 26 May 2024 at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall : Takemitsu Memorial for Mr. Turnage’s final judgement. Here is the list of finalists in order of their entry.
Jingyu Chen (Hong Kong SAR) Nebula for symphony orchestra
Jose Luis Valdivia Arias (Spain) Al-Zahra - Three pieces for orchestra
Alessandro Adamo (Italy) Parenthesis
Giovanni Liguori (Italy) Hypnos - Reminiscenze oniriche per grande orchestra
Comments for the Final / as a single judge for the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award 2024
I was looking for clarity and variety and less reliance on gesture in the scores that were submitted.
I had been hoping that there were some works submitted that concentrated on a single simple idea which was carried through to the end. Orchestral music is not always about large blocks of sound. When you have a large orchestra at your disposal it doesn’t mean all the players should be playing continually. We need relief and some strategic planning. Scores that use all the tessituras and most of the orchestra playing continually are dull. It takes bravery - and maybe experience - to do this and many young composers haven’t heard enough of their music to strike out in this direction.
The final four pieces I selected have more rhythmic interest and not a reliance on texture and sections full of ascending and descending scales and long passages of harmonics. Although the four I chose have complex ideas they are not continually dense, they have more than continuous walls of sound. So there is air and lightness which relieves the density. I was looking for transparency and clarity of thought.
I hope the final four will demonstrate, when they are played in the final concert, that to quote an old phrase ‘Variety is the spice of life’.
Mark-Anthony Turnage
