Works[]
Chamber works
- Ariadne (1987), flute & percussion
- At the Tomb of Charles Ives (1963), chamber orchestra
- Concerto for Flute & Percussion (1939)
- Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra (1951), percussion ensemble, organ and ensemble
- Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan (1986–87)
- Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra (1997), Asian instrument and ensemble
- Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra (1959)
- Concerto in Slendro (1961)
- Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Javanese Gamelan (1981–82)
- New First Suite for Strings (1995), string orchestra
- Pacifika Rondo (1963), chamber orchestra
- Serenado Por Gitaro (1952), guitar solo
- Praise for the Beauty of Hummingbirds (1951), mixed quintet
- Rhymes with Silver (1996), violoncello and ensemble, mixed quintet
- Serenade for Guitar with optional Percussion (1978), mixed duo, guitar solo
- Seven Pastorales (1949 Aug.- 1951 Oct.), chamber orchestra
- Solstice (1949), octet (flute, oboe, trumpet, 2 cellos, string bass, celesta, tack piano)
- Songs in the Forest (1951), mixed quartet
- String Quartet Set (1978)
- Suite for Cello and Harp (1949)
- Suite for Percussion (for five percussionists, 1942)
- Suite for Violin with American Gamelan (1973)
- Suite for Violin with String Orchestra (1997)
- Suite for Violoncello and Piano (1995)
- Suites for Cello and String Orchestra (1984, 1990)
- The Perilous Chapel (1948), mixed quartet
- Varied Trio (1986), Rice Bowls, Violin, Vibraphone, Piano (written for the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio)
Orchestral works
- Symphony On G (No. 1) (1947)
- Symphony No. 2 ‘Elegiac’ (1942)
- Suite from Marriage at the Eiffel Tower (1961) for the Santa Cruz Symphony
- Music for Violin with Various Instruments, European, Asian, and African (1967), string solo and orchestra
- Symphony No. 3 (1982) For the Cabrillo Music Festival
- Piano Concerto (1983–85), for piano tuned in Kirnberger #2 (a form of well temperament) and orchestra
- Last Symphony (No. 4) (1990, rev. 1995)
- A Parade for MTT (1995)
Vocal works
- Air from Rapunzel (1952-3), high voice and ensemble
- Alma Redemptoris Mater (1949–51), low voice and ensemble
- La Koro Sutro (1970), mixed chorus and gamelan, mixed chorus and ensemble
- Mass to Saint Anthony (1939), mixed chorus and ensemble
- Orpheus (1969), soloists, mixed chorus and ensemble
- Strict Songs (1955), baritone solo, chorus and chamber orchestra
- Three Songs (1985), men’s chorus and ensemble
- Vestiunt Silve (1951), for soprano and four instruments
Keyboard works
- Six Sonatas for Cembalo (1943), piano solo, harpsichord solo
- Reel (Homage to Henry Cowell), piano solo
- A Summerfield Set (1988), piano solo, harpsichord solo
- Waltz for Evelyn Hinrichsen, piano solo
References[]
- Leta E. Miller, liner notes for Argo CD 455 590–2
- ↑ Miller, Leta. «Lou Harrison — In Retrospect». Liner notes. New World Records.
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- ↑ Lou Harrison Centennial Birthday Celebration, 1917-2017, part 2 of 5.
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- Argo Records liner notes
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External links[]
Archives
- Lou Harrison Archive at the University of California, Santa Cruz
- San Jose State University School of Music & Dance
- Lou Harrison music manuscripts, sketches, poetry, and drawings, 1945-1991 at Isham Memorial Library, Harvard University
Obituaries and remembrances
- Obituary from the Musical Times
- Remembrance by Don Gillespie, from NewMusicBox
- I remember Lou, from Other Minds
- Obituary from Esperanto magazine (written in Esperanto)
Interviews
- Duffie, Bruce. «Composer Lou Harrison: A Conversation With Bruce Duffie.» April 1987.
- Golden, Barbara. «Conversation with Lou Harrison.» eContact! 12.2 — Interviews (2) (April 2010). Montréal: CEC.
- Clark, Philip. «Chimes of Freedom» The Wire, August 2002, pp 28–32
Other links
- Lou Harrison: Middle Period Works
- New Albion Artists: Lou Harrison
- Peermusic Classical: Lou Harrison Composer’s Publisher and Bio
- Lou Harrison artist page from Frog Peak Music site
- Other Minds: Lou Harrison
- Lou Harrison Documentary Project
- Lou Harrison: an interview by Dr Geoff Smith
- Rapunzel by William Morris, inspiration for Lou Harrison’s opera
- Lou Harrison at Music of the United States of America (MUSA)
Listening
- Art of the States: Lou Harrison seven works by the composer
- Lou Harrison tribute from Other Minds Festival 9, 2003
- Epitonic.com: Lou Harrison including tracks from Rhymes With Silver and La Koro Sutro
- Del Sol Quartet:Tear with Harrison’s Song of Palestine from String Quartet Set by Del Sol Quartet
Harrison’s music[]
Many of Harrison’s early works are for percussion instruments, often made out of what would usually be regarded as junk or found objects such as garbage cans and steel brake drums. He also wrote a number of pieces using Schoenberg’s twelve tone technique, including the opera Rapunzel and his Symphony on G (Symphony No. 1) (1952). Several works feature the tack piano, a kind of prepared piano with small nails inserted into the hammers to give the instrument a more percussive sound.
Harrison’s mature musical style is based on «melodicles», short motifs which are turned backwards and upsidedown to create a musical mode the piece is based on. His music is typically spartan in texture but lyrical, and harmony usually simple or sometimes lacking altogether, with the focus instead being on rhythm and melody. Ned Rorem describes, «Lou Harrison’s compositions demonstrate a variety of means and techniques. In general he is a melodist. Rhythm has a significant place in his work, too. Harmony is unimportant, although tonality is. He is one of the first American composers to successfully create a workable marriage between Eastern and Western forms.»
An often used technique is «interval control», in which only small number of melodic intervals, either ascending or descending, are used, without inversion. For example, for the opening of the Fourth Symphony, the permitted intervals are minor third, minor sixth, and major second.
Another component of Harrison’s aesthetic is what Harry Partch would call corporeality, an emphasis on the physical and the sensual including live, human, performance and improvisation, timbre, rhythm, and the sense of space in his melodic lines, whether solo or in counterpoint, and most notably in his frequent dance collaborations. The American dancer and choreographer Mark Morris used Harrison’s Serenade for Guitar (1978) as the «basis of a new kind of dance. Or, at least, one I’ve never seen or done before.»
Among Harrison’s better known works are the Concerto in Slendro, Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra, Organ Concerto with Percussion (1973), which was given at the Proms in London in 1997; the Double Concerto (1981–82) for violin, cello, and Javanese gamelan; the Piano Concerto (1983–85) for piano tuned in Kirnberger #2 (a form of well temperament) and orchestra, which was written for Keith Jarrett; and a Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan; as well as four numbered orchestral symphonies. He also wrote a large number of works in non-traditional forms. Harrison was fluent in several languages including American Sign Language, Mandarin and Esperanto, and several of his pieces have Esperanto titles and texts, most notably La Koro Sutro (1973).
Like Charles Ives, Harrison completed four symphonies. He typically combined a variety of the musical forms and languages that he preferred. This is quite apparent in the fourth symphony, recorded by the California Symphony for Argo Records, as well as his third symphony, which was performed and broadcast by Dennis Russell Davies and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Russell Davies also recorded the third symphony with the Cabrillo Music Festival orchestra.