Traversing distances: Pitch organization, gesture and imagery in the late works of T l ru Takemitsu

This study focuses on pitch organization in several of T l ru Takemitsu's last works, showing how projection of octatonic and other referential set complexes in Takemitsu's music contribute to the formation of large-scale gestures, which become agents of metaphorical imagery and affective meaning. In Takemitsu's music, associations of harmonic sonority, timbral color, and metaphorical imagery are embodied in an archetypal musical gesture. An aesthetic aspect of the octatonic and other referential set complexes in Takemitsu's late music can be found in their association with the hopeful humanistic ideal Takemitsu conveys in his music. As block-form spatializations link the temporal and that which is beyond time, referential pitch structures provide a way of grounding Takemitsu's "dream" imagery of infinite human potential in a particular manifestation of mediated reality. Relating imagery of pitch organization in Takemitsu's music to sources Takemitsu found in the works of Debussy and Messiaen, the study aims to contribute to greater understudying of Takemitsu's temporal structures, aesthetic aims, and the influences which shaped his development.