A lot of these early Japanese
composers were put into a corner after World War Two and where expected to
emulate their western counterparts. This is something that helped lead Tomita
into some of his most famous works. Tomita started out producing music for
television and film which we will get into later. In his early life he took
private lessons in orchestration and composition. In the late 1960’s he took an
interest in the electronic composer Wendy Carlos who composed Switched on
Bach (1968), which emulated the music of J.S. Bach using electronic
synthesis. “This work single-handedly
popularized the Moog synthesizer and started a new industry for commercial
electronic musical instruments. It also proved that electronic music did not
only dwell in the realm of the experimental or novelty.” (Holmes, p 430)[1]
Isao Tomita found it hard to
get noticed with his electronic take on classical music. It was an almost unheard-of
thing aside from Wendy Carlos’ Switched on Bach. The record companies did not
know which category to place the work in. Was it classical or was it pop? The
synthesizer being a somewhat new instrument at the time and before electronic,
or space music had made an impact from other artists such as Jarre or Vangelis.
Wendy Carlos, 1980, Photo-Vernon.
L. Smith.
“When I acquired my first synthesizer, it took me a
year and four months to complete my first recording, 'Snowflakes are Dancing'.
I was really pleased with it, and naturally, I was full of confidence that
everyone else would like it too. But the reaction from my Japanese record
company was "What on Earth is this?!". It's not pop, not classical -
there was no convenient category into which they could market it. This was
extremely disappointing for me, so I decided to go to New York (though I spoke
almost no English!), where I met a man called Peter Manders at RCA Records, who
had heard 'Switched-On Bach' and who I felt sure would listen to the tapes.
Peter was very impressed with the tape of 'Snowflakes are Dancing', and the
same day decided to release it. I wondered how it would be received, and under
what category. I was told that it would appear in the record shelves of both
pop and classical - what a change from the reaction in Japan! RCA released the
record, and it became a big success in America.” (Tomita)[2]
Tomita speaks about his first
impressions of Carlo’s and how he went on to follow along the same lines of
classical recital through electronic means.
“Generally speaking, in music, there is a maestro and
apprentice, or teacher and student when it comes to learning, but when I
started, there was no one to advise me - I was a pioneer. But when I listened
to Switched-On Bach, I really felt that I could compete as a rival, not a
teacher or a student. In my view, the Baroque nature of the piece conveys a line
drawing, but I thought that rather than that, I could try and create music with
pictures and colour, and that is when I hit upon the idea of using music of the
French impressionists, such as Debussy and Ravel. “(Tomita) [3]
Carlos went on to compose further
works including the theme to the Disney film Tron, (1982), The Shinning
(1980) and A Clockwork Orange, (1972.) Tomita began building his home studio
including a Moog III which he purchased in the US, (having problems getting the
instrument through customs), and composed his first album Electronic
Samurai-Switched on Rock. This album was entirely electronic and used
speech synthesis in place of the human voice. This was released in 1972 and
contained electronic versions of contemporary Rock and Pop songs. Tomita states
about his first impressions of the Moog III-
“It was hell. Prior to purchasing it, I had thought it
was like an electric organ, but when it came, I realised it was not that
simple. I had to change my perception of what instruments are supposed to be
like, because it was something totally different. All it made was noise at
first. And the instructions didn't help much since it was only about 15 pages,
talking about the functions of the machine, but not shedding light on how to
create certain sounds.” (Tomita) [4]
Tomita was also influenced by
Robert Moog’s work with synthesizers and from Carlos’ work, he was driven to
try his hand at the recital of high art or classical music with the use of
electronic synthesis. His work was a major turning point in the popularity of
the synthesizer at the time and changed the face of music. Tomia states in an
interview on the 13th July 2012-
“In the 1950s, when I was in college, I arranged
orchestrated versions of popular music and children's songs for use in schools,
TV commercials and radio shows. During that time, I arrived to the conclusion
that everything that could be achieved in orchestration has already been done
in Wagner's time and, eventually, I realized that I wanted to make my own music
using my own sounds. I started experimenting with effects units like Vox's
Fuzz-Tone. In the '70s, I discovered the Moog synthesizer, and came across
Walter Carlos' album Switched-On Bach. Rock bands like Emerson Lake &
Palmer, Pink Floyd and Yes would also use Minimoog in their music later on, but
while they merely incorporated the Moog sound into their rock music, Walter
Carlos built an entire album around the synthesizer. That idea totally blew my
mind. But the thing is, Bach's music can be replayed on any instrument as long
as it's in tune, and I felt that Switched-On Bach's sound could have been
better. If you're gonna use something like a Moog synthesizer, you have to
tweak the tone and put out something incredible. “(Tomita) [5]
Some of this early electronic
composition was produced by what became known as solder musicians or solder
music, people building their own electronic equipment, including Robert Moog.
[1] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music:
Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis
[CAM].
[2] Isoa Tomita.net, Interviews, accessed on 25/10/2019
[3] Isoa Tomita.net, Interviews, accessed on 25/10/2019
[4] 2012, Isoa Tomita, Moog Reverie, Accessed on
25/10/2019,
[6] Holmes, T. (2008). Electronic and Experimental Music:
Technology, Music, and Culture (Vol. 3rd ed). New York: Taylor & Francis
[CAM].
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