The list of instruments alone should indicate how vivid the sound-world of Valeria is. Composers frequently write for untested ensembles in search of new timbral combinations, but few have as natural an ear for adventurous new mixtures as Takemitsu. He deserves mention alongside Stravinsky and the other great instrumental colorists of the twentieth century. The saving grace in a piece such as this is not only the quality of the material, but the composer's perfectly reasonable use of an unnatural ensemble. Each instrument is assigned a clear, discriminate timbral role, always an extension of the roles the instrument has fulfilled in the past, and sticks with it. We hear Valeria almost as a dramatization of those roles, in a funny way, recalling Britten's A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The fact that the ensemble doesn't blend creates a positive dramatic tension and becomes a virtue of the piece. It's what they call a motley crew, and fascinating to behold.

Typically, the guitar writing is spastic and atonal, yet dynamically narrow. Cello and violin perform their jagged, wild lines, with the bows over the bridge and minimal vibrato, creating a dry choked sound quite in contrast with the warmth of the guitar. Valeria's greatest touch is perhaps the pair of piccolos. They always act as a single entity, playing together a zany, bird-like pair of interwoven lines that tumble out of the air. These come in towards the end of the first quietly frenetic section, which is cut off with the suddenness of a guillotine by the introduction of the electric organ playing a big churchy chord. The organ writing is wonderful, like sci-fi intermingled with Christian prayer. There are two sections later in Valeria which recreate the feel of Messiaen's harmonized melody pieces, using the electric organ and violin or cello—Takemitsu succeeds in being simultaneously expressive and delightfully tongue-in-cheek. If the earnestness of Takemitsu's statements about his works contradicts the apparent wittiness of his music, the fact that he was an avid karaoke singer should settle any doubts about his musical sense of humor.

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