# Lou Harrison



## mmsbls

Lou Harrison (1917 - 2003) was an American composer and student of Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. He was known for incorporating musical ideas from other cultures and was strongly influenced by music from Asia incorporating the gamelan or gamelan like sounds into his works. He often used just intonation rather then equal temperament. According to the Wikipedia entry on Harrison, he said once remarked, "I'd long thought that I would love a time when musicians were numerate as well as literate. I'd love to be a conductor and say, 'Now, cellos, you gave me 10:9 there, please give me a 9:8 instead,' I'd love to get that!"

His major works include Concerto in Slendro, Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra, Organ Concerto with Percussion (1973), the Double Concerto (1981-82) for violin, cello, and Javanese gamelan, the Piano Concerto (1983-85), and a Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan.

I have just begun to listen to some of his music. I especially enjoy the Piano Concerto, which has four movements and one called, uncharacteristically, "Stampede". The movements seem quite dissimilar to me, but the work is compelling especially the beautiful Largo. Another work that I quite enjoy is the Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra which uses gamelan type sounds. Both can be heard here.


----------



## Prodromides

Lou Harrison is the sort of composer whose music pleasantly entrances whilst listening to it. When Harrison's music is over, though, one might have difficulty remembering which of his similar-sounding works belongs to which title. Such is Harrison's output with respect to Asian scales/intervals that more than a few of his compositions sound as though they could have been 'background music' for Chinese restaurants of yesteryear.

Not that that's a bad thing or that I dislike Lou Harrison's music. I'll still give a 'thumbs up' for Lou, but very little of his music is on my favorites lists.

A few later works by Harrison which impressed me are his Symphony No.4 from 1995, and 1997's Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra.

I also like some of the titles of his works as well, such as LH's Song Of Quetzalcoatl. Harrison also composed a Threnody for Carlos Chavez in 1978 when that composer passed away...


----------



## Moira

Sounds eminently forgettable. So many composers fall into this category.


----------



## millionrainbows

Lou Harrison (1917-2003) will not be forgotten, and in fact his influence has already trickled down. Along with Cage, Harrison based his entire musical outlook on his first encounters with non-Western music. 

He recounts in the liner notes of his Piano Concerto CD: 

"Henry Cowell was our influence, of course. If you look through our scores, you'll find no snare drum and no timpani; that's simply because we never had those particular instruments. We'd go to junkyards and pick up old discarded brake drums, and big springs that made wonderful sounds when you hit them. In Chinatown we could buy tam-tams a yard across for only forty-five dollars, and so John (Cage) and I put all this stuff together and formed a percussion ensemble — the world's first. We simply bypassed the establishment."

He also formed an American Gamelon orchestra, which can be heard on La Koro Sutro (1972) (New Albion). Featuring a 100 voice choir, it's an impressive achievement. Other important works are his Piano Concerto (1985), and the Third Symphony (1982).

In the piano concerto, the black keys of the piano are tuned to perfect fourths and fifths, enabling pentatonic scales which are perfectly in tune (pentatonics are the first scale generated when "stacking" fifths, as in F#-C#-G#-D#-A#, rearranged into one octave as F#-G#-A#-C#-D#). The white keys are tuned to "just" intervals from one designated starting note, enabling perfect thirds, fifths, and flatted-sevenths to be played.

A big inspiration to the Minimalists, Harrison is probably the anathema of many powder-wigged classical purists.


----------



## Alypius

As one of those fans of "powder-wigged classical" (I've spent much of the last four months immersed in studying Haydn's and Mozart's string quartets), I am also a fan of Lou Harrison. One important feature of his career that has not been mentioned was his contribution to the career of Charles Ives. According to the Wikipedia article: "In 1943, Harrison moved to New York City where he worked as a music critic for the Herald Tribune. While there he met Charles Ives, became his friend, and did a good deal in bringing Ives to the attention of the musical world, which had largely ignored him up to that point. With the assistance of his mentor Cowell, Harrison prepared and conducted the premiere of Ives's Symphony No. 3, and in return received help from Ives financially. When Ives won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for that piece, he gave half of the money to Harrison. Harrison also edited a large number of Ives's works, receiving compensation often in excess of what he billed."

I have two wonderful collections of Harrison's work: _The Perilous Chapel_ (New Albion, 1993 / 2009) -- with works such as Harrison's _Harp Suite_, wonderfully performed on classical guitar by David Tanenbaum. Also his _Suite for Violin & String Orchestra_ & _Suite for Cello and Piano_ (Koch, 1999 / 2005).

















He (and Terry Riley) were the inspiration for what is -- in my view -- one of the finest classical works of the 21st century, John Adams' _Dharma at Big Sur_ (Nonesuch, 2006):


----------



## Guest

I just discovered this very fine album:









So now I'm sniffing around for another suitable purchase. Any recommendations?


----------



## AnotherSpin

Keith Jarrett recorded his Piano Concerto.


----------



## millionrainbows

Icarus said:


> I just discovered this very fine album:
> 
> View attachment 70080
> 
> 
> So now I'm sniffing around for another suitable purchase. Any recommendations?


I suggest La Koro Sutro on New Albion (on CD if possible, but now only on CD-R), and the Piano concerto with Keith Jarret. Then the Third Symphony.


----------



## millionrainbows

It's interesting to see that in five years, my top choices remain the same.


----------

