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Tonoya Naka tells us about his approach to music and why he finds it so difficult to answer what music is for him

What does music mean personally to you?

Music was my existence right from the very start. I was spending all day listening to music, then composing all day and playing the piano. I felt that I had no time left to even eat with my family or to go and play with other kids. I thought that the time without music was the time wasted. Music is everything to me, it is a deep thought, sublime ritual, beautiful art, great nature, my own conversations with God. I think that through all this I could understand its value. Music can hurt someone but hopefully it can save someone too. And it can represent beauty, ugliness, kindness and severity, strength and weakness: this is all music. That’s why once again I think a simple question like “what is music to you” is a very difficult question. I could compare it with the question: what is a human being? So, what is a human being? It’s a very difficult question. Only after thousand years of long life, you might attempt to answer it. Very disappointing that we live much less.

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

Music is past, the future is now. I believe that the music is the result of experience of all the events and all these events can be imagined through music.

The classical music audience is getting old, are you worried about your future?

No, I am not worried about the future. There are so many good musicians who continue the tradition.

What do you envision the role of classical music to be in the 21 century?

I was fascinated by the idea that Mendelssohn re-discovered Bach. I think he introduced the music that had been already buried. Now we have the current standard classical music repertoire. In classical music history in the past 100 years after Schoenberg many composers and performers around the world conducted plenty of experiments, but it’s important to search for one own style. However, through the experiment and a wide variety of music, all-new music has been emerging. I hope that such new music will be part of the current standard repertoire 100 years later.

Tell me about your creative process.

I frequently listen to the hearts and voices of people around the world and hear the things. Then I follow my inner voice and the voice of the people to form my music.

What do you advice young people discovering classical music for themselves?

Young people today have incredible listening possibilities to listen to lots of music on YouTube and in the Web. It is very good, but it requires good search and selection.

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Takashi Yoshimatsu, one of the most prolific and popular of contemporary Japanese composers, talks about his "children"-musical compositions, about searching for individual way and why Professors of compositions would advice their students not to become composers.

What does music mean to you personally?

It is a “language” different from words, a “numerical formula” different from mathematics. And my works are what I gave birth to, meaning they are my “children.”

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

It is a kind of fantasy that sometimes seems more real than reality.

If you were not a professional musician, what would you have been?

Originally I thought I would be a scholar or a doctor (or perhaps a writer or a manga(cartoon) artist). Becoming a musician was something completely unexpected.

The classical music audience is getting old, are you worried about your future?

In the 1960s, when I got into the music field, I didn’t imagine that classical music and orchestras would survive into the 21st century. So even though I’m not really optimistic, I can’t say I’m pessimistic either. I feel like the same is true for both music and people.

Tell us about your creative process. Do you have your favorite piece (written by you)? How did you start working on it?

The fact that music can be described in a “score,” making it possible to manage all formats from solos to huge ensembles performed on instruments from all times and places, and to program (and reproduce) “works”—I was interested in this and made “composition” my life’s work.

As a result, I’ve been able to make music with various musicians, orchestras and ensembles (from Western instruments to Japanese instruments and even jazz and rock). To me, the works born from these experiences are new personalities (children) combining the DNA of myself and the musicians. I think the same is true in the case of film and writing and painting as well.

Can you give some advice for young people who want to discover classical music for themselves?

This is quite paradoxical, but I’d probably tell young people, “Don’t get absorbed in classical music.” The reason is that, like me, they’ll put everything they have into it and spend their whole lives on it. I heard that the first thing my teacher would tell students in his classes in the university composition department was, “Don’t think about becoming a composer.”

Now it is a common practice in the media to talk that the classical music is getting into the consumption business, do you agree? We are speaking about the supply and demand rules and how to sell your “product” in your case your compositions. How do you see it? Do you have expectations what regards your listeners, your audience?

When I first aspired to be a composer, I never imagined a future other than one in which my works would never be performed or earn a single yen or have an audience, and I would die poor. A mother has children without thinking, “How much will this child cost?” or “How much can I earn by having this child?” It was like that. In the end (and very fortunately), I’ve been able to making a fair living without dying poor, but I didn’t go into music with a vision or plan for survival. That is why I have no answer in this regard.

 

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