Music of Lou Harrison
Editorial Reviews
David Hurwitz: Fanfare Magazine
Performance and sonic values are quite high. A worthy addition to this composer's growing discography.
Album Description
The major work here is "Pacifika Rondo", for a typically Harrisonian combination of far eastern and western instruments, with the emphasis on the percussion section. The music mixes all sorts of styles as it travels around the Pacific rim, and even contemplates The Bomb in a twisted atonal idiom. It's both humorous and disturbing at once. The other instrumental pieces are all attractive essays in Harrison's contemplative vein.
Music of Lou Harrison, Music, Lou Harrison, Robert G. Hughes, Oakland Youth Orchestra, William Bouton, Chamber, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Concerto, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous Chamber Music, Miscellaneous Music, Violin Concerto
Average customer rating:
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Lou Harrison: In Retrospect
Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
Ballets
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All Works by Harrison
| Harrison, Lou
| ( H )
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Flute
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Similar Items:
- Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2; Concert Fantasy
- Haydn: Piano Sonatas
- Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Violin Romances
- Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs
ASIN: B000NQREBE
Release Date: 2007-04-01 |
Tracks:
- First Concerto for Flute and Percussion: Earnest, Fesh, and fastish 1:59
- First Concerto for Flute and Percussion: Slow and poignant 4:55
- First Concerto for Flute and Percussion: Strong, swinging, and fastish 2:04
- Strict Songs: No. 1, Here is Holiness 7:41
- Strict Songs: No. 2, Here is Nourishment 4:42
- Strict Songs: No. 3, Here is Tenderness 3:03
- Strict Songs: No. 4, Here is Splendor 3:44
- Ariadne: Ariadne Abandoned 2:52
- Ariadne: The Triumph of Ariadneand Dionysos 5:09
- Solstice Part 1. Garden of the Sun 4:22
- Solstice Part 1. Entrance of the Moon Bull 3:51
- Solstice Part 1. Battle 2:31
- Solstice Part 1. Earth's Invitation 2:57
- Solstice Part 1. Vernal Dance 2:38
- Solstice Part 2. Saturnalia 1:47
- Solstice Part 2. Rekindling of the Fire 2:59
- Solstice Part 2: Turning of the Wheel 2:58
- Solstice Part 2. Blaze of the Day 2:54
Product Description
Although the compositional style of Lou Harrison (1917-2003) evolved and matured during his long and productive life, he held fast to a number of basic aesthetic principles: a devotion to beautiful melody; the foregrounding of rhythm, melody and ocunterpoint over harmony; a preference for just-intonation tuning systems; and the integration of influences from diverse world musics. On the present disc, which includes workds from 1939-1987, all of the characteristics are in evidence. Despite its early origin, First Concerto for Flute and Percussin (1939) has remained one of Harrison's most frequently performed and recorded works. The ballet Solstice (1950) is written for octet: three treble instruments (flute, oboe, trumpet), three bass instruments (two cellos and string bass), and two keyboards (celesta and tack-piano). Harrison found that by compining the tack-piano with the celesta he could create a sound that resembled that of an Indonesian gamelan, which he first encountered in 1939. The complex rhythms and exuberant melodies of gamelan became a major source of inspiration. The gamelanish sounds in Solstice can be heard most prominently in the fourth movement ("Earth's Invitation"), when the solo flute line is accompanied by celesta, tack-piano, and pitched percussion created by the bass player, who strikes the strings of his instrument with drum sticks below the bridge. The text for Strict Songs (1955, revised 1992), modeled on Navajo ritual song, is of Harrison's own invention. Harrison's interest in gamelan had led him to explore the possibilities of pentatonic modes. Each of the four movements of Strict Songs is based on a different pentatonic mode. All intervals are tuned to exact mathematical proportions, rather than to the impure compromise-intervals of present-day equal-temperament. The fixed-pitch instruments in the ensemble (piano and harp) are retuned to produce non-beating intervals; the stirngs and trombones match these pitches by ear. The effect of
Average customer rating:
- Never mind the gay, just enjoy the music
- 20th Century Composers OUT on the Town
- Art at its best!!
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Gay American Composers
Manufacturer: Composers Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
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Hoiby, Lee
| ( H )
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General
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ASIN: B000005TY0
Release Date: 1996-05-21 |
Tracks:
- Homage A Rachmaninoff
- Five Songs On Poems Of Walt Whitman: I Was There
- Variations
- Estampe
- Incitation To Desire: Tango
- The Nantucket Songs: The Dance
- The Nantucket Songs: Nantucket
- The Nantucket Songs: Go, Lovely Rose
- The Nantucket Songs: The Dancer
- Fantasy Pieces: I. Adagio
- Fantasy Pieces: II. Poco Allegretto
- Fantasy Pieces: III. Allegro Minacciando (...Diabolique)
- Fantasy Pieces: IV. Largo
- Two Quartets: Desire-Movement
- In The Department Of Love
- Bass Trombone, Bass Clarinet, Harp
- Transform (Stream): Transform (Stream) (Excerpt)
- Serenade For Betty Freeman & Franco Assetto
- Walt Whitman In 1989
- Hommage a Faure
Customer Reviews:
Never mind the gay, just enjoy the music.......2005-01-18
If you are dubious about the "gayness" of this music, no worries! So are most of the composers on this disc. Strangely, despite the premise of the collection, in the liner notes most deny their music is "gay," even if their lives are. Aside from the Whitman texts and a few other hints, you would be hard pressed to hear anything here but beautiful 20th cen. American music. And it is a beautiful selection, nice especially for the inclusion of lesser known young composers along with Rorem and Harrison.
20th Century Composers OUT on the Town.......2002-09-26
...Of the composers of note during the last 100 years or so (here in America) the vast majority of them are/were gay. This disc, with it's companion Volume 2 are a way to step into the gay sensibility a bit...
Well, I defy anyone to listen to Walt Whitman in 1989, by the late Chris De Blasio and have them tell me that isn't the heart-rendering cry of a gay man for his dying generation.
I don't want to give the impression that this disc is a downer. It isn't. But it is defiantly gay. Painfully beautiful, and at times downright challenging. Buy it. Stick it in you drive, and luxuriate in the fabulousness (and I don't use the "F" word lightly).
Art at its best!!.......2001-06-06
Absolutely wonderful music! I recommend this recording highly! The most moving works represented were provided by Philadelphia composer Robert Maggio and New Yorker Lee Hoiby.
Average customer rating:
- Chamber and Gamelan works
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Chamber and Gamelan Works
Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
Quartets
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General
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All Works by Harrison
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| ( H )
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ASIN: B000F7MFY2
Release Date: 2006-05-01 |
Tracks:
- Concerto in Slendro: I. Allegro (3:06)
- Concerto in Slendro: II. Molto adagio (4:19)
- Concerto in Slendro: III. Allegro; Molto vigoroso (2:13)
- Main Bersama-Sama (7:21)
- Threnody for Carlos Chavez (7:06)
- Serenade for Betty Freeman and Franco Assetto (5:48)
- String Quartet Set: I. Variations (5:17)
- String Quartet Set: II. Plaint (4:12)
- String Quartet Set: III. Estampie (3:57)
- String Quartet Set: IV. Rondeaux (8:17)
- String Quartet Set: V. Usul (4:34)
- Suite for Percussion: I. Moderato (3:34)
- Suite for Percussion: II. Slow (3:04)
- Suite for Percussion: III. Recitative; Moderato allegro (2:43)
Product Description
Lou Harrison (19172003) believed fervently in musics power to create cultural bridges. To this end he applied his prodigious skills and creative energies to creating syncretic works that link diverse musical languages. Faulted at times for his eclecticism, Harrison responded with a vibrant defense of hybridity, cultivating a musical multiculturalism long before that termor even the conceptheld the currency it now enjoys. Harrisons major contributions to twentieth-century American music lie in three main areas: (1) the development of the percussion ensemble as a viable performance medium; (2) the linkage of Asian and Western musical styles; and (3) the exploration of just intonation tuning systems. All three are represented in the works on this disc. The influences manifest in the works on this disc remained with Harrison for the rest of his career. He ultimately composed over three dozen gamelan pieces and the estampie became one of his favorite forms (he used it in a dozen works, ranging from solo keyboard to full orchestra). Nor did his advocacy of just intonation systems diminish: he called for pure intervals in works in all genres. But the most distinctive characteristic of Harrisons music lies in its inherent plurality. He was drawn to community, both in performance groups such as the gamelan and the percussion ensemble, and in the compositions themselves, which unite elements from various times and places. Harrisons originality lay in the way he creatively combined these elements to produce novel syntheses. His fervent advocacy of hybridity led to a type of transethnic music that truly foreshadowed the post-modern celebration of diversity. The reissue of this seminal release from the CRI catalog features extensive new liner notes by Harrison biographer Leta Miller.
Customer Reviews:
Chamber and Gamelan works.......2007-07-09
The harrison works on this disc are absoultely fabulous. Particularly haunting was a 'concerto' for horn and gamelan ensemble. Couldn't get the tune out of my head!
Average customer rating:
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Homage to Lou Harrison, Vol. 3
Manufacturer: Dynamic Italy
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
Duets
| Chamber Music
| Classical
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Trios
| Chamber Music
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General
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All Works by Harrison
| Harrison, Lou
| ( H )
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Guitar
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ASIN: B00005K9TI
Release Date: 2001-05-29 |
Average customer rating:
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First Edition Music: World Premier Collection
Manufacturer: First Edition
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
Ballets
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All Works by Corigliano
| Corigliano, John
| ( C )
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All Works by George Crumb
| Crumb, George
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| Panufnik, Andrzej
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ASIN: B0007DA4GA
Release Date: 2005-03-01 |
Average customer rating:
- Gratitude....
- Enjoyable and modern
- Finest Harrison CD that I Own
- Deeply spiritual music
- Don't listen
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La Koro Sutro
Manufacturer: New Albion Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
All Works by Harrison
| Harrison, Lou
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- Harrison: Piano Concerto/Suite For Violin, Piano And Small Orchestra
- Harrison: Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Javanese Gamelan
- Drums Along The Pacific
- Music of Lou Harrison
- Chamber and Gamelan Works
ASIN: B000000R2D
Release Date: 1994-04-05 |
Tracks:
- La Koro Sutro: Kunsonoro kaj Gloro - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- La Koro Sutro: Strofo 1 - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- La Koro Sutro: Strofo 2 - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- La Koro Sutro: Strofo 3 - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- La Koro Sutro: Strofo 4 - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- La Koro Sutro: Strofo 5 - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- La Koro Sutro: Strofo 6 - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- La Koro Sutro: Strofo 7/Mantro Kaj Kunsonoro - The Chorus and Chamber Chorus of The University Of California at Berkeley
- Varied Trio: I. Gending - The Abel/Steinberg/Winant Trio
- Varied Trio: II. Bowl Bells - The Abel/Steinberg/Winant Trio
- Varied Trio: III. Elegy - The Abel/Steinberg/Winant Trio
- Varied Trio: IV. Rondeau in Honor of Fragonard - The Abel/Steinberg/Winant Trio
- Varied Trio: V. Dance - The Abel/Steinberg/Winant Trio
- Suite for Violin and American Gamelan: First Movement - David Abel
- Suite for Violin and American Gamelan: Estampie - David Abel
- Suite for Violin and American Gamelan: Air - David Abel
- Suite for Violin and American Gamelan: Jhala I - David Abel
- Suite for Violin and American Gamelan: Jhala II - David Abel
- Suite for Violin and American Gamelan: Jhala III - David Abel
- Suite for Violin and American Gamelan: Chaconne - David Abel
Customer Reviews:
Gratitude...........2004-06-15
I didn't know Lou Harrison from chopped liver until this lovely late spring evening of 2004, when it was given to me to hear Lo Koro Sutro whilst watching a Hudson Valley sunset.
I have been "working" with the Heart Sutra for about 30 years...and I write to you all, not as a music person (though I have those credens) but as a very thankful Dharma person who finally heard a version of this sutra proper for the West.
Btw, it happens to be beautiful too.
Enjoyable and modern.......2003-04-03
This is an album of modern pieces that are quite creative and enjoyable. There is a good variation found here and this allows for a rewarding hour of listining. It is one to listen to, not to play in the background.
Finest Harrison CD that I Own.......2002-07-20
I am a great fan of the varied career of Lou Harrison, perhaps the most eclectic of all American composers. His music shows the influence of Gamelan and other eastern elements, but it is music that is clearly of the west. He still even occasionally composes in twelve-note fashion, though of course within his own unique style.
La Koro Sutro is a masterwork, perhaps the most impressive Harrision work I have yet heard. The text is an Esperanto translation of the Buddhist Heart Sutra, accompanied by the "American Gamelan" (instruments created by Harrison and his life partner, William Colvig), harp and organ. Throughout the piece, Harrison displays his genius for sound. The choral writing too is excellent and the piece rises to a luminous conclusion. Deeply spiritual and moving music!
The other works on the recording are equally fine. The Varied Trio is a beautiful work for violin, piano and percussion. It is written in Harrison's "oriental chamber music" style. The titles of the movements show the varied influences from Indonesian and the French Baroque (Rondeau in Honor of Fragonard). The Suite for Violin and American Gamelan is also stunning. The slow first movement is haunting. The piece then morphs into a series of Baroque inspired dance pieces with some Indian influences in the Jhala movements. As always, Harrison fuses his overtly asian influence with a distinctively Western attitude toward composition.
Harrison should be more widely appreciated I think. His music is mostly tonal and immediately communicative. As such, it should command the same wide audience that has embraced Part, Gorecki and Tavener. But Harrison is not simple-minded as some of the minimalists can be, particularly Tavener at his worst. The music is always fresh and rewarding, and the harmonic pallete is adventurous without becoming too dissonant.
If you are a fan of minimalism, world music, or simply contemporary music that can be immediately enjoyed and yet stand up to close scrutiny, this is a great place to start. I can not give this CD enough praise!
Deeply spiritual music.......2000-05-17
"La Koro Sutro" is Esperanto for "the Heart Sutra," a traditional Buddhist hymn. I found this music deeply moving and spiritual. Lou Harrison studied with Arnold Schoenberg, but this music is not at all like Schoenberg's. This music draws you in, sometimes with unusual percussive effects (Harrison uses strange instruments like metal rice bowls), sometimes with warm, ethereal vocals. I highly recommend this album.
Don't listen.......2000-03-17
This CD is not for the faint at heart. Apparently, La Koro Sutra is Lou Harrison's finest choral work. If that is the case, I would hate to hear any other. It is very boring and often very meditative. I was severely disappointed with his music.
If you are a Harrison fan, the performance on this CD is mediocre.
Average customer rating:
|
Lou Harrison: Suite for Symphonic Strings; Strict Songs
Manufacturer: First Edition
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
All Works by Harrison
| Harrison, Lou
| ( H )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Symphonies
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
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General
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Similar Items:
- Lou Harrison: Suite for Violin
ASIN: B0000C52FL
Release Date: 2003-09-09 |
Average customer rating:
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Harrison: Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Javanese Gamelan
Manufacturer: Music & Arts Program
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
Trios
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| Music
General
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All Works by Harrison
| Harrison, Lou
| ( H )
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Concertinos
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Chamber Music
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General
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- La Koro Sutro
- Music of Lou Harrison
- Lou Harrison: Rapunzel and Other Works
- Chamber and Gamelan Works
ASIN: B000055ZC1
Release Date: 2006-01-01 |
Tracks:
- Double Concerto for Flute and Java Gamela
Average customer rating:
- Where is the "Bust of Beethoven" skit when we need it the most!
- Amusing as it is yet infuriating
- sounds of 'silence'
- Extrovert & Glorious
|
4'33"
Manufacturer: Hungaroton
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
Cage, John
| ( C )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Percussion
| Instruments
| Classical
| Styles
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General
| Classical
| Styles
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General Contemporary
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- John Cage: In a Landscape
- Indeterminacy
- Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
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- Insomnia
ASIN: B000003070
Release Date: 1993-12-08 |
Customer Reviews:
Where is the "Bust of Beethoven" skit when we need it the most!.......2007-04-30
Ahhhh! 4'33" and with a straight face I'm told by a diehard John Cage fan, "You fail to grasp the "event", Doc, the "attitude" of the piece, where what you term 'silence' is in fact the 'ambient chorus of the hall' [!?] where even a passing cough [or belch or ... ?] by an audience member could conceivably be, in the mind of the listener anyway, the "Appassionata" [!] or indeed the 'essence of a Liszt or a Rachmaninoff' !" to which I promptly replied, "Well, the experience leaves me 'envisioning' at least analogously anyway, since such conjuring becomes a mandate for any 'listener' from the very get-go, the Chopin B-Flat Minor "Funeral March" piece!" Scratch one otherwise decent "agree to disagree" cyber friendship!
Let's get down to cases: the pianist comes to the piano, sits, and except for the piano lid 'adjustment' after watching the 'time' in order to signal the 3 "movements" of 4'33", not a note is played!
C'mon already! I mean if we're doing the old Muppet Show with Victor Borge and Fozzie-Bear "Bust of Beethoven" skit [I loved that one! You know, Victor hits a [purposeful] clinker in the "Moonlight Sonata" and Fozzie makes with the "Did you make a mistake?" and the "Bust of Beethoven" pipes up for the 'defense', as it were, "No, that's the way I wrote it!"]. Anyway, if the purpose 'is' in fact pure skit or shtick, hey, fine, but to seriously pass off 4'33" as no less than the veritable muse itself "manifesting itself to both artist and audience", give me a break!
Yes, I've narrowed my remarks to 4'33" but then this whole business of the "prepared piano" or of bolts, screws, spoons, wires, marbles, 'whatever' either 'precisely set' or indeed simply rolling around the piano strings as allegedly representing "the voice of things to come and/or music of the future", hey, I'll settle for a "Chopsticks" rendition if 'only' for the purpose of some semblance for piece recognition or indeed a return to some form of harmony ... versus dissonance gone amuck but for the 'sake' of dissonance by design!
What's that? Sure! I most certainly 'did' see Andy Russo at one of my "precious classical international piano competitions" [Van Cliburn, Leeds, Chopin, et al] reach over the piano keys and begin a sort of 'pizzicato variation' while literally plucking the piano 'strings' doing that George Crumb piece but hey, did YOU see the face of juror Claude Frank when he saw it happening? Yeah, I know, beauty is in the eye [or ear or, indeed, in this case with 4'33", 'imagination'] of the beholder, true enough, but there are also such things as the proverbial elephant in the room too ... albeit often to the accompanying 'aroma' left by the beast therein!
Doc Tony
Watch now ... a reader in 'wherever' .... "Obviously the good doctor is an ultra staid classical "sic piece" and no doubt fanatical Claudio Arrau fan!" OK, I'll give you this for 4'33", the 'plus' side if you will: no pesky clinkers, missed notes or memory lapses! And hey, the real recital biggie for 4'33" renderings, talk about de facto 'silencing' those artist critics, yes? Or could that audible rumble of the hall air conditioning system suddenly conjure up even to the critic the kettle drum prelude to Thus Spake You-Know-Who! Watch too, yet another reader, "That's it, Doc! 'Now' you have the heart of it all!" ;-)
Amusing as it is yet infuriating.......2007-02-21
4'33" is a solid example of the post/modernist's destruction of art by ideology; and while it is arguable that any condemnation of this destruction--or even calling it destruction at all--belies valuation which ought itself to be deconstructed, I call bull****. And not in the made-up Frankfurt sense.
I like to believe that Beethoven would have punched Cage in the head.
Because, you see, there is within this absurd silliness, a rejection of music. Music is something to be enjoyed for what it is; that is, for the components of music--melody, tone, &c.--and for the emotion behind the music and for the element of design, composition. I don't mean to attempt to set up some criteria for music or art; rather, I will say that there is something about music that is essential to music, something beyond the definition of music, or one might say that music is defined by something that cannot be re-defined without rendering music noise. It seems inexpressible: we can point at the components of music, but to say what music is--
Ligeti pushed the boundaries. Messiaen was innovative. Schoenberg was... something. And so on. And so forth. But this--!
Cage, when a little more serious, can be a bit enjoyable; but the most enjoyable aspect of this album, I think, is the near-silent track--the track which makes a mockery out of placing philosophy over art. No, placing an unreal philosophy over art. Abstraction, the unconcrete and ungrounded. Something thought of in a moment in which he was withdrawn from reality. A fancy: wouldn't it be splendid if all things, the greatest music and the most random sounds, were without error, equal. It seems an avoidance of judgment, an avoidance of valuation--and insofar as it is conscious of its avoidance, itself a valuation, or dis-valuation--a senseless pursuit of the program of re-valuation, without regard for reality.
So, despite the fact that Beethoven would punch Cage in the head, I think 4'33" has some value: it exposes the farce of ridiculous modes of thought.
sounds of 'silence'.......2005-12-15
" I should note that audience noise is somewhat pronounced, but it really presents no obstacle to enjoyment of this magnificent rendition of 4'33". " that was just too funny not to write my own review.
Cage is probably one of the most important of the American avant-garde composers, and is most notorious for this piece, 4'33", in which no noise in delibritly made. "There is no such thing as silence. Something is always happening that makes a sound." It is these unintentioned sounds, especially of the crowd, that is to be regarded as the music of the piece. Cage is infamous for having asked the question, what is music? 4'33" in particular is meant to challenge the conventional definition of music.
He also described his music as being purpossless play, an extention of his Zen Buddhist beleifs. "this play is an affirmation of life-not an attempt to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we are living, which is so excellent once one gets one's mind and desires out the way and lets it act of its own accord."
not for everyone of course, this cd is a good mix of cage's work, certainly a visionary composer whose legacy will last.
Extrovert & Glorious.......2005-07-05
All of the pieces on this disc are excellent, but I wish to call your attention specially to the title piece. I have in my collection most of the extant recordings of 4'33", & have admired most of them, but without doubt this is the most splendid recording available at the present day. The Amadinda Percussion Group is in top form throughout, bringing a sensitivity & brio to the piece that have rarely been approached. The tempi are a bit faster than I am accustomed to, but I found this a welcome change, & if anything, truer to Cage's intentions. The sound quality is first-rate: every nuance is finely chiselled, dynamics are tracked with absolute fidelity. I should note that audience noise is somewhat pronounced, but it really presents no obstacle to enjoyment of this magnificent rendition of 4'33".
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- The Best of Polystylism
- America's Most Verstile Composer
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Lou Harrison: Rapunzel and Other Works
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ASIN: B000000R4H
Release Date: 1997-04-10 |
Tracks:
- Air For The Poet
- Rapunzel: Act I
- Rapunzel: Act II
- Rapunzel: Act III
- Rapunzel: Act IV
- Rapunzel: Act V
- Rapunzel: Act VI
- Songs In The Forest: Slowish
- Songs In The Forest: Fastish
- Songs In The Forest: Largo
- Air In G Minor
Customer Reviews:
The Best of Polystylism.......2002-07-30
Lou Harrison is simply a wonder. His music seems to be able to touch any of his wide musical and philosophical interests and yet remain distinctive, and accessible. This CD, which contains mostly music from the 40s, perhaps more than any other recording that I've heard introduces the listener to the wide range of Harrison's musical world.
The main work on this CD is Rapunzel, and what a surprise it is! Rapunzel is based on a telling of the fairytale by William Morris, with a dose of psychology thrown in. The tonal language is twelve-note, perhaps even serial at times. And yet, it is never dense or cluttered and it is always lyrical. Harrison, even in this early piece from the 40's, is much more interested in communication than in theory. As a result, Rapunzel is an immediately attractive work, an unusual thing to say for such a twelve note piece.
The other works on this CD are more in Harrison's modal genre. The Air for the Poet is a lovely work, mellifluous and yet moving. Songs from the Forest is one of Harrison's East/West chamber pieces and a very successful blend of western instruments and eastern techniques. And Air in g minor is a lovely, almost Baroque style melody over a continuous drone. It's haunting.
All in all, this is another great Harrison CD on New Albion. This might not be the first CD that I would choose to introduce someone to this magical composer, but for those of us who are already converted, this fills in the gaps of an important time in Harrison's musical development.
America's Most Verstile Composer.......2000-05-05
Lou Harrison is America's most versitile composer, plain and simple. He can assimilate any style and make it his own, and more, even forms which are alien to the American Muse he can render intelligible and accessible. He is as at home with a gamelon as he is with a symphony orchestra. This recording goes from the graceful Air for the Poet through the dark serialism of the title opera (on a text by William Morris) to the meditative Songs in the Forest, to the very melodic Air in g minor. It is all amazingly listenable music and because of its variety there is likely to be something for everyone. Well, maybe not: there are too many facets of Harrison's talent for one, or even a dozen, CDs to express. If you don't know his music, however, you ought to give him a try. He is just plain wonderful.
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