Takemitsu, Toru. (1930 - 1996)
"TASHI PLAYS TAKEMITSU" - Signed LP Record to an important Chemist
Boldly signed LP cover of this 1979 recording by Tashi (including Peter Serkin, Richard Stoltzman, Ida Kavafian and Fred Sherry) with guest artists, featuring Quatrain II, Water Ways, and Waves. Japanese issue RCA RVC-2290 STEREO (ARL1-3483). Signed and inscribed in blue ink on the front cover "Dr. Bernhard Witkop / with Admiration / November 19, 1980 / Toru Takemitsu." Small tears and wear to lower cover spine edge, lp untested but in apparently fine condition.The inscription is to the German-born American organic chemist Bernhard Witkop (1917 - 2010) who worked for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 37 years and who helped pioneer the NIH Visiting Fellow Program. Among other foreign scientists, he began attracting visiting researchers to the program from Japan as early as 1955. He traveled frequently to Japan, where he gave talks in classical Japanese and in 1975, Witkop received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, bestowed by the Emperor of Japan. “He brought in the first visiting fellow from Japan at a time when we were still in the shadow of World War II,” said Dr. Kenneth Jacobson, Chief of the NIDDK Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry. “He broke the ice.”
Signed material of the important Japanese composer, a master of orchestral timbres, is uncommon. (8397)
Signature Classical Music