Tōru Takemitsu (8 October 1930 – 20 February 1996) was a Japanese composer and writer on music, largely self-taught, who became one of the most performed and influential Japanese composers of the 20th century. He combined elements of Western avant-garde technique with Japanese aesthetic concepts of sound, silence, and space, and wrote prolifically for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and film, scoring over 100 films.

Takemitsu’s guitar works, including Folios and Equinox, and his arrangement collection 12 Songs for Guitar — which folded popular and film songs such as “Over the Rainbow” into the classical repertoire — are staples of the modern guitar repertoire and helped cement his international reputation as a composer who moved fluidly between avant-garde and accessible idioms.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōru_Takemitsu