Takemitsu was deeply attracted to nature: Between Tides is simply another term for slack water - the pause, at high or low water, when tides reverse direction; a brief time for rest, reflection, and introspection. The musical tradition of Japan in this work is obvious, but the harmonic language is a beautiful mixture of late Impressionism and the contemporary Neo-Romanticism of Eastern Europe. 

The music's structure consists of a series of constantly restarting arcs, giving the effect of watching misty, watery scenery. It illustrates how moving Takemitsu can be as a composer, once liberated from the arcana of atonality and mathematics.