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Download the Digital Booklet 01 Ran - Suite Part 1 02 Ran - Suite Part 2 03 Opening Credits - Main Title 04 Kyouami / The First Castle / The Brave General’s Bow 05 The Flute Orchestra 06 The Buddhist Praying Temple / The Last 110,000 and Hidetora / The Fury of Ootemon / The Second Castle 07 Hell’s Picture Scroll 08 The Crimson Citadel / Surrendering the Castle - Desert of Madness 09 Tsurumaru’s Flute / Azusa Castle in Ruins 10 Saburou’s Army Arrives / Departing for the Front 11 Endless Hell / Escape 12 Tension in Yahatabara / Assault 13 The Battle of Yawatano 14 Lamentation / Chaos in the First Castle - Ujigabana / Illusions in the Sky 15 Attendance at the Funeral / Flute of Darkness 16 Ending Credits composed by Toru Takemitsu conductor Hiroyuki Iwaki shinobue Hiroyuki Koinuma performer Sapporo Symphony Orchestra RANa film by AKIRA KUROSAWA Ran was Kurosawa’s last epic film. It tells the story of a warlord (Hidetora), who is destroyed by his own sons. Hidetora is a ruthless leader, who built his empire on the blood and backs of others. When he abdicates his power due to his advanced age, a battle develops among his three sons for control of the empire. Two of the sons plot against their father, while the third son remains loyal, despite being banished by Hidetora from the kingdom. The story ultimately ends in total destruction for all involved. There are parallels between Ran and Shakespeare’s King Lear, although Kurosawa noted that those connections did not become apparent to him until after he had conceived of much of the script. In many ways, Ran was Kurosawa’s last great film. It was a project he envisioned for many years, and he even made detailed paintings of the sets he hoped to construct for the film. Kurosawa selected Tôru Takemitsu (1930-1996) to compose the music for Ran. Takemitsu was Japan’s most well known composer at the time and a recognized pioneer in contemporary concert music since the late 1950s. He had written over 100 concert works and received many international awards. But he had also had an active career as a film composer. By the 1980s, he had over 90 film scores to his credit. Kurosawa and Takemitsu had worked together once before, when Takemitsu scored Kurosawa’s film Dodes’kaden in 1970. Takemitsu’s music draws from a wide range of influences. He deeply admired the works of Debussy, Messiaen, and Cage, but also found inspiration in popular music, electronic music, and jazz. He is perhaps best known for his nuanced understanding of timbre (the distinct musical color that every sound has), and his ability to compose works that enabled listeners to experience timbres in new ways. He also eventually developed a strong interest in traditional Japanese music. The main title for Ran demonstrates this latter interest. It features a high-pitched, repeating musical figure in the strings that resembles the kinds of musical gestures a shinobue (a Japanese transverse flute used in noh and kabuki theater) player uses. The figure repeats several times, cycling in a circular manner, while the lower orchestral instruments rumble darkly underneath. Takemitsu’s nod to traditional music continues throughout the score, as the shinobue itself becomes a central part of the musical commentary, employed in a delicate balance with the large orchestra. Much of the music throughout the film is brief and sparsely scored, much like a Japanese screen that includes large spans of white space between intricately drawn details. The most famous musical cue from Ran, however, has a much different style. It is the music that accompanies the ambush of Hidetora’s castle by his own sons (Hell’s Picture Scroll). The musical model Kurosawa suggested Takemitsu consider for this scene was the late nineteenth-century composer Gustav Mahler, whose slow - often tragic - orchestral works seemed an appropriate match to the horror that Kurosawa envisioned depicting in this brutal battle scene. Takemitsu initially resisted Kurosawa’s suggestions, but ultimately acquiesced and wrote one of the most heart-wrenching musical cues in the history of film music. The cue incorporates the musical gestures from the main title, but they are now part of a larger musical fabric. The music’s slow tempo, solo oboe lines, and thick string texture are powerful counterpoints to the frenetic and brutal battle unfolding on the screen. The music’s effectiveness is heightened by Kurosawa’s decision to mute all ambient sound in the scene. As a result, the viewer is forced to step back from the specifics of the battle and watch the horror unfold from a distance, with no hope that it will be averted. Takemitsu’s score earned the 1985 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music, as well as the 1986 Award of the Japanese Academy for Best Music Score. - James M. Doering - James M. Doering is Professor of Music at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. He writes about Japanese and American film music, and his work has appeared in The Musical Quarterly, Notes, American Music, and The Journal of the Society for American Music. CREDITS - CAST - Lord Hidetora Ichimonji - Tatsuya Nakadai Taro Takatora Ichimonji - Akira Terao Jiro Masatora Ichimonji - Jinpachi Nezu Saburo Naotora Ichimonji - Daisuke Ryû Lady Kaede - Mieko Harada Lady Sue - Yoshiko Miyazaki Shuri Kurogane - Hisashi Igawa - CREW - Director - Akira Kurosawa Screenplay - Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide Cinematographer - Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saitô, Shôji Ueda Original Music - Tôru Takemitsu Conductor - Hiroyuki Iwaki Shinobue - Hiroyuki Koinuma Performer - Sapporo Symphony Orchestra Music published by Studiocanal SA Executive Producers for Silva Screen Records Ltd. - Reynold D’Silva & David Stoner Mastering - Rick Clark Release Co-ordination - Pete Compton Design - Stuart Ford Ⓟ & © 2016 StudioCanal Limited. Under exclusive licence to Silva Screen Records Limited. SILCD1518 .
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