In addition to the performance of traditional pieces, the world of contemporary gagaku also embraces new pieces written for gagaku instruments by contemporary composers, who are often performers themselves. The ancient sonority of gagaku is being replenished with the introduction of a great variety of new forms.

New works for gagaku by contemporary composers

Fourth movement: ‘In an Autumn Garden’

As a whole, the work depicts the colorful flow of the season of its title. It is written for four groups of instruments, with the ‘Autumn Garden’ group in the center, and three ‘Tree Spirit’ groups, one at the rear of the stage, and one each at stage right and stage left. Sounds from the four groups intermingle to form a sound space that expresses the image of a garden in late autumn as the tinted leaves fall.

In addition to revivals of pieces lost from the gagaku repertoire, the National Theatre has also commissioned many new compositions for gagaku instruments. One of these is Shūteiga (‘In an Autumn Garden’) by the world-renowned Japanese composer Takemitsu Tōru (Toru Takemitsu). The first version was premiered in 1973, and a revised and expanded version called Shūteiga ichigu (‘In an Autumn Garden,’ complete version) was premiered in 1979. The complete version is in six movements and over 50 minutes in length. Although it makes much use of the traditional techniques of the gagaku instruments, it creates new sonorities with its original instrumentation, and is generally regarded to have been successful in effectively drawing out the expressive possibilities of the instruments.

From ceremonial music to music for enjoyment

In recent years there has been a tendency for gagaku to be appreciated less as ceremonial music in its traditional form than as music to be enjoyed in and of itself. There are artists who compose and perform popular music that features the timbres of the gagaku instruments, and groups that arrange pieces of the traditional repertoire and improvise in ways that are not restricted by genre. This reappraisal of Japan’s traditional sound world appears to be spreading among the younger generation.