Overview

Music's inclusivity--its potential to unite cultures, disciplines, and individuals--defined the life and career of Lou Harrison (1917-2003). Beyond studying with leading composers of the avant-garde such as Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg, conducting Charles Ives's Pulitzer Prize-winning Third Symphony, and staging high-profile percussion concerts with John Cage, Harrison has achieved fame for his distinctive blending of cultures--from the Chinese opera, Indonesian gamelan, and the music of Native Americans to modernist dissonant counterpoint. Miller and Lieberman also pull readers into Harrison's rich world of cross-fertilization through an exploration of his outspoken stance on pacifism, gay rights, ecology, and respect for minorities--all of which directly impacted his musical works. Though Harrison was sometimes accused by contemporaries of ""cultural appropriation,"" Miller and Lieberman's brisk study makes it clear why he is now lauded as an imaginative pioneer for his integration of Asian and Western musics, as well as for his work in the development of the percussion ensemble, his use of found and invented instruments, and his explorations of alternative tuning systems.Harrison's compositions are examined in detail through reference to an accompanying CD of representative recordings.

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9780252031205

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Reviews

In Lou Harrison, Leta E. Miller and Frederic Liberman provide a loving, but not uncritical, introduction to the man and his music. As authors, they are excellent teachers: their explanation of different systems of tuning is the cleverest I've read. --Times Literary Supplement, 8 December 2006 Lou Harrison is published under an academic imprint, but the authors adopt a user-friendly approach, aiming to connect with non-specialists. They ... offer informative commentary and a thoughfully compiled CD in order to introduce readers to Harrison's world through the lens of repreesntative compositions . -- The Wire Feb 2007

Author Information

Leta E. Miller and Fredric Lieberman are professors of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. They are coauthors of Composing a World: Lou Harrison, Musical Wayfarer

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