Toru Takemitsu felt the pull of water in many of his compositions, as in Toward the Sea dedicated to Greenpeace’s Save the Whales campaign. It was inspired by the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville redolent of the ocean’s salty spray. The second movement paints a melancholy portrait of the giant beaked whale: the vast silhouette-like surfaces and widely-radiating melodic spans indicate a respect for the mystery and loneliness of nature. Stephen Kovacevich, one of the greatest Beethoven pianists on the scene today, is in full command of both the majestic opening of the C major Concerto and the gleeful pranks of its finale.