Teiji Ito is a singular figure in mid-twentieth century American music. Never having had much to do with the conservatories or their dependence on Europe models of compositional method, but expert in operating a tape recorder, Ito created his music from the ground up, playing all of the instruments and engineering his own recordings. Tenno is Tzadik's second disc drawn from Ito's sizeable legacy of master tapes, now at the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the New York Public Library. Tenno is also one of Ito's most mysterious projects; he recorded it in 1964, ostensibly for a Japanese film about the emperor cult produced by Asuka Productions, the company that later made the first IMAX film, Tiger Child, in 1970. It is not known if the emperor film was made, or if Ito's music was used for any purpose on the production end, but it is a beautiful and highly absorbing score consisting of a wide variety of instruments, sound effects, and altered sounds melded into a satisfying, psychologically effective whole. Given the subject, one is not surprised to hear a fair amount of Japanese chanting and traditional instruments in this mix, but what about the seamless marriage between sounds of stampeding cattle, a passing subway, and water flowing? The musical segments likewise represent a merging of Japanese traditional flutes and percussion instruments with such foreign sounds as a harmonica and, at one point, a trap drummer.
Producer John Zorn has wisely, and conveniently, divided the work's 52 minutes into six sections -- while it is a continuous piece, the additional access provided is appreciated. Historically, Tenno is a major work of electronic music and is as captivating and masterful an example of the genre as can be found in any era; thanks are due to Tzadik for making it available after 40 years. Hardcore fans of early electronic music will want to run, not walk, to their favorite store to obtain it.
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