Orion
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1984
- Duration
- 12'
- Publisher
- Schott
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About this piece
Orion is Toru Takemitsu's only work for cello and piano. IRCAM's catalogue lists it as commissioned by Austrian radio (ORF) and first performed on 21 March 1984 in Vienna by cellist Florian Kitt and pianist Harald Ossberger. It is closely related to Orion and Pleiades for cello and orchestra, written the same year: the BIS release notes that its content corresponds to the orchestral work's first movement, "Orion". Yellow Barn's programme note says it is "characteristically based on number symbolism – the three stars of Orion's belt", and eClassical's notes for the BIS disc describe "a characteristic interweaving of sound and silence." Recordings include Torleif Thedéen and Noriko Ogawa on The Japanese Cello (BIS-CD-876). Schott Music Tokyo (Schott Japan) publishes the score and cello part as SJ 1019.
Technical overview
A single movement of about 12 minutes (recordings run about 11 to 14½ minutes) that opens with a free, melismatic cello line. The cellist needs fine control of soft dynamics, tone colour and rubato across long, quiet, slowly unfolding phrases, rather than conventional virtuosity.