The three brief works known as "Uninterrupted Rest" were composed in the composer's early period from 1952 - 1959. They are based on poems by Takiguchi Shuzo: (I) "Slowly, sadly, as if to converse with" (1952), (II) "Quietly and with a cruel reverberation" (1959), and (III) "A song of love" (1959).

"Slowly, sadly, as if to converse with", of approximately two minutes duration, features a plaintive chromatic melody with soft chordal accompaniment. The tension increases with the addition of another voice in octaves that seems to want to remind the contemplative voice of something. Their brief dialogue ends in a sustained pause. The melody is then stated in octaves. And quietly concludes.

The music segues directly into "Quietly and with a cruel reverberation", of approximately 3 minutes duration, which is a pointillistic declamation in the manner of the Stockhausen/Boulez early piano works with sharp, dissonant block harmonies and isolated deep bass tones. The succession of events is constantly re-ordered.

"A song of love" contrasts mostly descending chromatic melodies in a slow, almost jazz ballad timing (like Monk, or Paul Bley's early style; Takemitsu was deeply taken by Ellington's music) in an approximately 2 minute framework. The silences are the longest of all the pieces in this set. The piece gives the impression of searching, of trying something out and then starting again, and then just stops, leaving the listener interested and hanging. Wonderfully.

© "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide