Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) occupies a particular place in the classical music world. A largely self-taught composer, his musical influences reflect the cultural mix of post-war Japan in the 1950s. TheBeatles, French chanson, avant-garde art and music, and ever-present traditional Japanese and Asian music helped craft a very personal and intuitive musical language filled with beauty and space. In Rain Tree for percussion trio, one of three works he wrote with that title, he explores an idea from a writer Kenzaburo Oe: “It was named the ‘rain tree’, for its abundant foliage continued to let fall raindrops from the previous night’s shower until the following midday. Its hundreds of thousands of tiny, finger-like leaves store up moisture, whereas other trees dry out at once.”

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