When Heterophony for String Quartet was performed for the first time, he felt strongly that the tone selection at the beginning of the piece was strange, so much so that he immediately rewrote it into a modal version.
[1] Along with Joe Kondo, Nishimura has a wealth of recordings of his own works, but Nishimura also has many important works that are not included in his discography, such as Guren and From the Edge of Manra.
In his later years, he wrote new works for the world of wind instruments.
[2] Nishimura was the judge at the 2007 Tōru Takemitsu composition award.
Akira Nishimura died from jaw cancer on 7 September 2023, one day short of his 70th birthday.