Today we'll be discussing Toru Takemitsu (1930 - 1996), a 20th-century Japanese composer and writer on music theory and aesthetics - a branch of philosophy. His compositions often integrated Western music and Japanese traditional music. His influences come from Debussy, Cage, Schoenberg, Webern, and Messiaen who influenced his use of modes and timbre. Takemitsu is largely known for his film scoring in numerous motion picture films. He spent a lot of time composing for the screen between the years of 1962 and 1973. Litany is a two movement work composed for piano. Notation is one of the first elements we use to identify Takemitsu’s compositions. Cross staff beaming is one of Takemitsu’s most commonly used composition techniques. Takemitsu implicitly paid close attention to the sonorities and dissonances used in the two movement work. The structure of the first movement focuses more on the phrasing. Litany (1989) is a recomposition of Takemitsu's first published piano piece, Lento in Due Movimenti (1950). The original score was lost so he recomposed it based on the original sketch. The pitch organization in the second movement of Litany has a significant influence over Takemitsu's final work for piano, Rain Tree Sketch II (1992). Litany is based on pitch organizations that are largely different from his previous solo piano compositions. Litany was originally composed in 1950 during the time when Takemitsu was under the guidance of Yasuji Kiyose (1900-81). The first movement reflects the use of the pentatonic scale which was influenced by Kiyose. In the first movement of Litany, Takemitsu uses the key signature of four flats. This is the only composition he uses a key signature. The second movement projects typical octatonic and diatonic systems.