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Title |
Film Music by Toru Takemitsu |
International Title |
[Box Set] |
Music By: Toru Takemitsu |
Record Label: Victor |
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Running Time: [pending] (Total) |
Discs: 7 |
Release: February 2006 |
CD Number: VICG-60593-9 |
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Comments |
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Anthony
Romero |
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Thanks
goes to Jessica Stan for sending this in for review!
Released to the day of the tenth anniversary of the death of composer Toru Takemitsu, this seven disc box set features re-releases of the early 1990's "Film Music by Toru Takemitsu", which themselves were mostly re-releases of LPs issued in 1980 although with a few contemporary films added in like Black Rain. The set contains suites from the films, rather than full tracks, making this hard to recommend to people unless they are stark fans of the "sample" compilations that used to be more common in the heyday of CD releases.
It was always going to be hard to follow up the mammoth, 55 disc Complete Takemitsu Edition set that Shogakukan published in 2003, which captured just about all of the music Takemitsu has done for film... at the cost of your next mortgage payment. Rather than trying to top it, Victor went the opposite approach of just re-releasing older compilations in a box set. While this provides a cheaper alternative for fans to sample his film work, it's also a rather lazy approach and the original suites, even if they were handpicked by Takemitsu, are none too stellar either, focusing a bit too much on films like Kwaidan (1964) and Pitfall (1962) and not enough on gems like Glowing Autumn (1979) and An Ocean to Cross (1980).
The suites themselves aren't what many might associate with the term either, as it's become more in tune with themes that are creatively edited or even composed together. Instead, this is just a collection of themes placed together with a bit of silence between the cues. The set does offer a bonus disc not found in the original JVC releases, with a few additional suites that were originally on the LPs but didn't make it on the 1990's CDs, and an audio interview with the composer... so it does offer something, but most are probably better off saving their pennies for one day getting the Complete Takemitsu Edition, or tracking down volume 5 from this set in its original 1991 release as it's really the sole truly stellar CD from this set.
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