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Simfony #13 (1941)
| composer |
Lou Harrison (1917-2003) |
| performers |
Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet:
Gunnar Folsom, percussion
Paul Hansen, percussion
Matthew Kocmieroski, percussion
Rob Tucker, percussion |
| publisher |
Alfred Music Publishing (BMI)http://www.alfred.com
|
| recording |
Live concert performance at Drums Along the Pacific festival, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, Washington, March 27, 2009 |
| duration |
09:45 |
Matthew Kocmieroski:
"Simfony #13 was written in the spring of 1941 in San Francisco and first presented at a concert there in May of that year at the California Club. The concert, produced by Harrison and John Cage, who had recently moved to San Francisco from Seattle, Washington, also included the premieres of other new percussion works by both composers including their collaboratively written Double Music. The means for recording one of the pieces was available, and it was decided to let the audience vote on which work it was to be. The recording of Simfony #13 was released that fall, but the score was mislaid. This tale is told in Leta Miller and Fredric Lieberman's wonderful book on Harrison, Composing a World: Lou Harrison, Musical Wayfarer. It was during the preparation for that book that the score was rediscovered. [...]
"Simfony #13 shows an approach and orchestration similar to much of Harrison's other percussion work up until that time. Harrison would plot out the possibilities of rhythmic patterns and durations, and use them in composing the little rhythmicles (Harrison's term for the small phrases in his percussion work) and the longer formal elements used to construct his works. This facilitated the always lyrical feature of Harrison's writing, even for percussion. [...]
"The orchestration is a mix of instruments in typical Harrison fashion. Players one and two have three sets each of five or six wood and metal instruments: woodblocks, water buffalo bells, and cowbells for one; suspended temple blocks (dragon's mouths) and muted brake drums for the other. The third player has an elephant bell, a triangle, a suspended cymbal, a gong, and a tam-tam, and the fourth, seven tom-toms and a bass drum. This performance marks the Seattle premiere of this work."
Lou Harrison (1917-2003) is known for an eclectic body of work which features diverse systems of intonation, traditional Asian instruments, and a combination of Eastern and Western musical styles.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Harrison initially studied in San Francisco in 1935 with Henry Cowell, who introduced him to the music of Charles Ives as well as Native American and early Californian culture. As a dance accompanist for Mills College in Oakland, Harrison met John Cage, with whom he arranged percussion concerts in 1941; a year later he studied with Arnold Schoenberg at the University of California, Los Angeles. Harrison lived in New York City from 1943 to 1951, where he wrote for a number of periodicals and conducted the premiere of Ives' Third Symphony (1904-1911), for which Ives received the Pulitzer Prize (but gave the prize money to Harrison and composer John Becker).
Towards the end of his stay in New York, Harrison began to work with just intonation, inspired by the publication of Harry Partch's Genesis of a Music in 1949. He held residencies at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina (1951-1952) before permanently settling in Aptos, California. In the 1960's Harrison received grants allowing him to travel to Korea and Taiwan, where he studied Korean court music with Lee Hye-Ku and Chinese classical music with Liang Tsai-Ping.
At various points in his career, Harrison made a living as a florist, record clerk, poet, dancer, critic, music copyist, calligraphist, painter, playwright, teacher, and instrument builder. He held academic positions at the University of Hawaii, San Jose State University, Stanford University, and other schools until finally joining the faculty of Mills College in 1980. With partner William Colvig he built many non-Western and folk instruments, including two gamelans in just intonation which remain in use at San Jose State University and Mills College. Harrison's music has been recorded on many labels including Albany, Bridge, CRI, Crystal, Koch International Classics, Mode, Music & Arts, New Albion, New World, and Phoenix.
related websites
http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/harrisonbio.html
Formed in 1996 in Seattle, Washington, the Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet performs music from the 1930's to the present, including works by John Cage, Steve Reich, Amadeo Roldán, Toru Takemitsu, and Iannis Xenakis. The quartet's members individually perform with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera, Seattle Symphony, 5th Avenue Theatre, and on numerous major movie and video game soundtracks. In addition to producing their own concerts, they have appeared with the Seattle Chamber Players, Seattle Creative Orchestra, and Sonora; on series such as the Cornish Music Series, Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, and Seattle Chamber Music Society; and at venues including the Seattle Asian Art Museum and St. James Cathedral, where they helped celebrate Olivier Messiaen's centenary in 2008. Educational performances include Cornish College of the Arts, Music Works Northwest, Seattle Public Schools, and Seattle Symphony Tiny Tots series.
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