Composed in 1995, Air for flute solo, lasting slightly over six minutes, is Takemitsu's last completed work. Throughout his career, he had created exceptionally original pieces that featured the flute and alto flute, such as Toward the Sea ( I, II, III, for various combinations of alto flute, strings, harp and guitar), Voice for Solo Flutist (1971), I Hear the Water Dreaming (1987) for flute and orchestra, and Mask (1959-60). Perhaps it is only fit, then, that his last musical blessing left to us should have been this beautiful set of variations in rondo form (perhaps his most often used compositional structure) for one of his favorite instruments.

The work opens with a brief, impressionistic introductory passage. We then hear a central four-note signatory motif which is played twice, the second time sounding like a distant echo or response from a bird in another tree. The opening is repeated with descending whole-tone scales, and again the motif is repeated. This time it is expanded through arpeggios. The mood soon becomes more internal, with little sighs and an occasional flighty gesture.

The motif is repeated but the order of notes is changed. A series of ascending arcs follows. The motif is added to and then fragmented.

Then the motif is treated in an all-ascending order. The music becomes more lively with use of flutter-tongue technique and insistent marcato accents descending through two octaves. (Unlike in his other flute works, Takemitsu uses few unusual techniques in this piece, other than flutter-tonguing and a few "bent" or slow glissando notes.)

The motif is again repeated, this time emphatically. The notes become longer, and an extended lyricism pervades the work until we hear the motif repeated boldly twice at the end, with both of the repetitions at an equal dynamic level as if the two voices had succeeded in finding each other.



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