Gauche the Cellist

Gauche (Hideki Sasaki) is a diligent but middling cellist who plays for a small-town orchestra and the local cinema in the early twentieth century. His conductor berates him through every rehearsal for Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, and he goes home to his mill house to practice alone. Isao Takahata has a cat, a bird, a tanuki and a child mouse come to his door on four successive nights, each one hearing him play, while Gauche keeps working at the cello.