Takemitsu's early compositions almost exclusively focused on Western musical styles and genres, as “he hated everything about Japan at that time because of his experience during the war.” For him, “Japanese traditional music became a symbol of my own bitterness.” He experimented with electronic music technology, and became the co-founder of an artistic group that religiously avoided all references to his native Japanese artistic tradition. It was a chance encounter with Igor Stravinsky that brought Takemitsu to international attention. Stravinsky visited Japan in 1958 and he heard a performance of Takemitsu’s Requiem for string orchestra. Stravinsky praised the “sincerity and passionate writing,” and he arranged for a commission of a Takemitsu work from the Koussevitsky Foundation. Dorian Horizon premiered by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Aaron Copland in 1966.
Towards the end of his life Takemitsu made increased use of diatonic materials with references to tertian harmony and jazz voicing, what he called “a sea of tonality.” “He was the first Japanese composer fully recognized in the west, and he remains the guiding light for the younger generations of Japanese composers.”