Harrison: Music for Guitar and Percussion

On this CD:

1. Canticle No. 3 for flute (or ocarina), guitar & percussion
Composed by Lou Harrison
Performed by John Schneider
Conducted by John Bergamo

2. Suite No 1 for guitar & percussion
Composed by Lou Harrison
Performed by John Schneider
Conducted by John Bergamo

3. Plaint and Variations
Composed by Lou Harrison
Performed by John Schneider

4. Serenade for guitar
Composed by Lou Harrison
Performed by John Schneider

5. Serenade for guitar & percussion
Composed by Lou Harrison
Performed by John Schneider

6. Waltz for guitar
Composed by Lou Harrison
Performed by John Schneider

Tracks:

Suite No. 2: 1. Jahla - John Schneider/Amy Shulman/Gene Sterling
Suite No. 2: 2. Waltz For Evelyn Hinrichsen - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Suite No. 2: 3. Therenody - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Suite No. 2: 4. Son in Ishartum - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Suite No. 2: 5. Beverly's Troubadour Piece - John Schneider/Amy Shulman/Gene Sterling
Sarabande - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Two Studies On Ancient Greek Scales: Study on Olympos' Pentatonic - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Two Studies On Ancient Greek Scales: Study on Archytas' Enharmonic - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 1. Today I Am A Man - John Schneider
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 2. Gentlemen - John Schneider
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 3. Considered Pretty - John Schneider
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 4. A Very Good Idea - John Schneider
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 5. Possible Rides - John Schneider
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 6. Jesus Was God In The Flesh - John Schneider
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 7. You Lucky Women - John Schneider
8 Hitchhikers' Inscription: 8. Why In Hell Did You Come? - John Schneider
Dream - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
In A Landscape - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Six Sonatas: 1. Moderato - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Six Sonatas: 2. Allegro - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Six Sonatas: 3. Moderato - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Six Sonatas: 4. Allegro - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Six Sonatas: 5. Moderato - John Schneider/Amy Shulman
Six Sonatas: 6. Allegro - John Schneider/Amy Shulman

Customer Reviews:

like spring water(just intonation) versus tonality(polluted).......1999-06-27

Just intonation is based on the natural physicalness of sound,that composers and performers . We haven't, in the history of Western music, instead we have been barbarians with Tonality as our ear- icon, the Western system of what we hear(or don't hear) today is based on "bent" or altered states of vibrations, especially the intervals thirds and fifths. The problem now is that our ears have been conditioned,almost irreparably.Tonality is like an oil-slick touching every shore of World music. If you've never heard music based on just intonation, this is a great place to start. The combination harp and guitar (with some percussion here) has a pure unimpaired quality for which you will immediately say, "why haven't I ever heard this music before". The works here are also by devoted creators who have an intimate knowledge of the tuning non-Western systems of the world. Lou Harrison's music works best in smaller intimate pieces as here in the "Suite No.2". Here the tightly constructed five movements for guitar and harp has a richly diverse constitution,highlighting the solos unique melodic qualities as well as the ensemble chordal combinations. Harrison's music has a close association with the gestures of Asian music,but you always sense he is speaking his own voice always melodic yet with original shapes,lines and contours in unpredictable ways. La Monte Young's "Sarabande", originally for piano solo doesn't suffer under its transformation for guitar and harp.It sounds like wind chimes,a sense of static harmonies(purified now) drifting freely and gently. I never warmed to Partch's music. Granted his profound theories on tuning and instrument making is what the world music systems needed, still his music doesn't have the emotive eqivalence of his profound theories. The spoken text here from "Barstow: 8 Hitchhikers' Inscriptions"(1941) is simply blunt and boring reflecting an uniformed sense of the unfreedom of anarchy. "In a Landscape" by John Cage,- originally a piano piece- works better, as a harp solo with its simple arpeggiated harmonies magnetized around two tones." Dream" also by Cage works less successfully, the original G-minor piano solo has a sense of sparceness,and intimacy, where the guitar and harp combination heregently explodes thisas a miniature orchestration. Shulman and Schneider are always sensitive with a high sense of musicality and emotive direction no matter what music is in front of them.

Excellent selection.......1999-03-26

A beautiful selection of microtonal pieces. I enjoyed listening to it a lot. The booklet which comes with the CD is great and manages to explain some of the concepts behind this music. Great value.

Average customer rating:

Homage to Lou Harrison, Vol. 3

Manufacturer: Dynamic Italy
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005K9TI
Release Date: 2001-05-29

Just Guitars: Microtonal Music for Guitar

Average customer rating:

The only record of its kind, and well-done
inconsistent, directionless, some great material

Just Guitars: Microtonal Music for Guitar

Manufacturer: Bridge
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Just West Coast
The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 1

ASIN: B000096JH4
Release Date: 2003-05-05

Tracks:

Carter Scholz: Rhythmicon
Lou Harrison: Scenes from Nek Chand
Lou Harrison: Scenes from Nek Chand
Lou Harrison: Scenes from Nek Chand
Lou Harrison: Tandy's Tango
Lou Harrison: Cinna
Lou Harrison: Palace Music
Lou Harrison: Plaint & Variations on 'Song of Palestine'
Lou Harrison: Plaint & Variations on 'Song of Palestine'
Lou Harrsion: Serenado por Gitaro
Harry Partch: Letter from Hobo Pablo
Harry Partch: December 1942
Harry Partch: December 1942
Harry Partch: December 1942
Harry Partch: Three Intrusions
Harry Partch: Three Intrusions
Harry Partch: Three Intrusions
Terry Riley: Harp of New Albion
Terry Riley: Harp of New Albion
John Schneider: Lament

Album Description

This recording features the premiere recordings of works by the late Lou Harrison and the legendary Harry Partch. John Schneider, guitarist and Los Angeles radio personality performs on a wide variety of guitars using such instruments as Partch's microtonal Adapated Guitars, Martin, Gibson and Fender guitars, a National Resophonic Guitar, and other instruments that feature tuneable fretboards for various types of Just Intonation. Lou Harrison (1917-2003) wrote his last guitar piece for National Steel guitar, custom fretted in Just Intonation. The Scenes from Nek Chand uses a six-note mode and is based on the sculpure and architecture of Nek Chand in northern India. Harry Partch worked on the adapatation of guitars in the 1930s, using one for his Barstow: 8 Hitchhikers' Inscriptions (1941) (available on BRIDGE 9041). The opening of Partch's long lost song cycle, December 1942, begins with a setting of the jester's song "Come Away Death" from Shakespearre's Twelfth Night. Three Intrusions (1949) are the first compositions to use Partch's newly invented Diamond Marimba and the Adapted Guitar 2. Both of these works feature Schneider singing and intoning the vocal parts, as well as performing on copies of Partch's Adapted Guitars.

Also available: Just West Coast, John Schneider guitars, BRIDGE 9041

Customer Reviews:

The only record of its kind, and well-done.......2006-01-10

While I too have some criticisms, I can't imagine anyone having the time to do all the unique things that had to be done to realize this album and still have time to get every little thing perfect. This stands beyond many albums in terms of performance and artistry. It is unique and varied. It is definitely a bit jolting in terms of consistency, from the electric-sounding track 1, to the Partch, whereas the rest is more normal guitar playing. But it is all worthwhile. Schneider's singing may not sound like Partch, but his inflection and interpretation are suberb in terms of following the composer's intent. His playing is technically brilliant. It is not fair but to view this as an early recording in a basically yet-to-be-explored field. I hope this album inspires many to build on the ground that Schneider and a few others are working to lay down.

inconsistent, directionless, some great material.......2005-10-15

The reason this recording is important is because it has several important pieces which are on record for the first time, a few by Lou Harrison, a few by Harry Partch. The performances are technically excellent but some truly lack soul. The album is for the most part consistent until we reach the Harry Partch material which seems out of place (this is when it takes a turn and makes the listener cringe), John Schneider sings on the Harry Partch tracks, the singing is very sub-par. He sings about being a hobo and riding a train but the voice sounds far too crisp and clean. But it's hard to complain because these are their first time on record and our only way to hear them. You need to close your eyes and Imagine a gruff, hairy, hobo singing them. Also, the piece written by John Scheider feels a little too melodic and peaceful for this record. This disk has some great material on it, but purchase with an informed mind.

Lou Harrison: Solo Keyboards - Complete Harpsichord Works, Music for Tack Piano & Fortepiano

Average customer rating:

Good but not Exciting

Lou Harrison: Solo Keyboards - Complete Harpsichord Works, Music for Tack Piano & Fortepiano

Manufacturer: New Albion Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Harrison: Piano Concerto/Suite For Violin, Piano And Small Orchestra

ASIN: B000062TBP
Release Date: 2002-03-26

Tracks:

Allegro Moderato
Adagio, Arioso
Estampie
Pastorale
Quadrille
Chorale
Homage to Milhaud
Jahla
Gigue & Musette
Sonata I (Moderato)
Sonata II (Allegro)
Sonata III (Moderato)
Sonata IV (Allegro)
Sonata V (Moderato)
Sonata VI (Allegro)
I. Medium Fast
II. Slow
III. Fast
IV. Medium Slow
V. Grand
I. Sonata - Air - Sonata Da Capo
II. Ground
III. Round for the Triumph of Alexander
Triphony
A Twelve-Tone Morning After to Amuse Henry
Largo Ostinato

Album Description

Complete harpsichord works with music for tack piano & fortepiano in historic and experimental tunings

Customer Reviews:

Good but not Exciting.......2002-08-02

This CD is not a bad CD. The music is extremely well played and the repertoire is interesting, but it just seems to be lacking in the spark that I associate with Lou Harrison.

This recording is dominated by harpsichord music in just intonation with a few pieces for fortepiano and a couple of tack piano pieces thrown in for variety. Most of the works are in Harrison's Baroque/Eastern style. The first piece on the CD is a longish suite based on Baroque dance forms. The effect is rather like Rameau or Couperin, all elegance and grace. The six sonatas are obviously modeled on the Scarlatti sonatas. These are also charming works. The final few works on the CD are from aHarrision's earlier period. There is even a spoof on 12 tone music just for fun.

So what's the problem? I think that, because of the similarity of timbre in this recital, the disc begins to sound rather grey after a while. The harpsichord as an instrument, tends toward a deadening consistency of tone color. Most players reslove this by creating programs by diverse composers, or programs of Bach, who seems to defy boredom. Harrision is a good composer, but without the tonal contrasts of his ensemble pieces, this CD begins to fall flat after a while.

Customer Reviews:

A good survey of percussion music in the wake of Varèse's seminal "Ionisation" - but timing too short and opportunity misssed.......2007-06-13

Contrary to the accepted view (and the one later propagated by the composer), for all their daring avant-gardism Varèse's compositions from the early 1920s to the early 1930s met with considerable success in New York (see Chapter 2 of Carol Oja's Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s, "The Reception of Edgar Varèse"). Granted, audiences were usually split, but some critics - admittedly those favourably bent towards modern music - called him "a new God" or "a Hero", and even those not so well disposed recognized his importance and treated him with respect. His scores got published - "an extraordinary achievement for a composer in America during the 1920s" according to Oja. His compositions also had seminal influence over other, younger composers, and none was more seminal than his 1930-31 "Ionisation" for percussion ensemble, as this disc bears good witness. Viewed as the first composition for an all-percussion ensemble (although George Antheil's "Ballet Mécanique" can lay a legitimate claim on that title - but that piece was greeted with sneers and boos by audience and critics alike when it was played at Carnegie Hall in 1927, durably molesting the young, firebrand composer's reputation in the United States), it made it possible for others to think of what until then had been unthinkable: making music from sheer noise (unpitched percussion). Most compositions featured here share with "Ionisation" the taste for varied colors, the rhythmic complexity and the strong sense of pulse, much in evidence in Johanna Beyer's "IV" from 1935 and Carlos Chavez' 1942 "Toccata". To those basic parameters Cowell's "Ostinato Pianissimo" adds the influence of Balinese music with its altered piano evoking the Gamelan, and in his Canticle No. 3 (1942), Lou Harrison uses the ocarina (the small and sweet-sounding, oval-shaped instrument of the flute family), making it sound like some Japanese or Chinese rural tune (though it is the influence of Indian and Mexican music the composer acknowledges). Alan Hovhaness' "October Mountain" from 1942 is mostly subdued, with sweet marimba melodies punctuated by crystalline glockenspiel interjections, giving it again a strong "far-eastern" tinge and putting the stress on subtle coloring rather than on unleashed power.

I bought the disc to get an opportunity to hear more music from Johanna Beyer, the most obscure and demure member of a group, adept at "dissonant counterpoint" and gathered around Cowell, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford, Carl Ruggles and Dane Rudhyard. Born in 1888 and an immigrant from Leipzig, Germany, she established in New York in 1923 and died in 1944 of a neuro-degenerative disease. I discovered her music with the fine, stern and vehement Suite for Violin and Piano from 1937 (Works for Violin by George Antheil; Johanna Beyer; Henry Cowell; Ruth P. Crawford; Charles Dodge; David Mahler, Larry Polansky, Stefan Wolpe) and went on with her serious and unseductive "Dissonant Counterpoint" and "Gebrauchsmusik" for piano (Ruth Crawford: 9 Preludes, Johanna Beyer: Dissonant Counterpoint, Gebrauchs-Musik). "IV", composed in 1935, turns out to be a fine, post-Varèse piece, composed of nine rhythmic lines with no instrumentation indicated (the intepreters and not the composer are meant to chose the actual instruments) but a frustratingly short one too, less than two minutes long.

From what I can assess, the interpretations the University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble under Thomas Siwe seem perfectly apt, but in Hovhaness' October Mountain and Chavez' Toccata the sound has spots of saturation whenever bass drum and/or timpani come in. Still this is an enjoyable disc, but at 52 minutes the survey is not excessively lengthy. It is really too bad that the opportunity was missed to include some "historical" Cage (who really belonged there) and perhaps also John J. Becker's 1933 "The Abongo" (featured on Cowell: Quartet Romantic, a New World Records CD).

Average customer rating:

Up-beat modernist guitar disc

Serenado

Manufacturer: New Albion Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Drums Along The Pacific
La Koro Sutro
Music of Lou Harrison
Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs

ASIN: B00008Z47H
Release Date: 2003-06-24

Tracks:

Avalokiteshvara
Threnody to the Memory of Oliver Daniel
Sonata in Ishartum
Beverlys Troubadour Piece
Music for Bill and Me
Jahla - in the form of a Ductia to pleasure Leopold Stokowski on his ninetieth birthday
Serenado por Gitaro
Plaint
Variations on Walter Von der Vogelweides Song of Palestine
Serenade for Guitar - Round
Serenade for Guitar - Air
Serenade for Guitar - Infinite Canon
Serenade for Guitar - Usul - little homage to Sinan
Serenade for Guitar - Sonata
Scenes from Nek Chand - The Leaning Lady
Scenes from Nek Chand - The Rock Garden
Scenes from Nek Chand - The sinuous arcade with swings in the arches
Tandys Tango
A Waltz for Evelyn Hinrichsen

Customer Reviews:

Up-beat modernist guitar disc.......2004-06-27

If you don't know Lou Harrison's music that is lively and effusive in its essence try this disc! I have played it many times and find it continually rewarding.

Average customer rating:

Drums Along The Pacific

Manufacturer: New Albion Records
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Binding: Audio CD

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Serenado
Lou Harrison: Works 1939-2000
Music of Lou Harrison
Harrison: Piano Concerto/Suite For Violin, Piano And Small Orchestra

ASIN: B00008Z47F
Release Date: 2003-05-20

Tracks:

Threnody for Carlos Chavez
Simfony #13
Music for Violin with Various Instruments - European, Asian & African
Music for Violin with Various Instruments - European, Asian & African
Music for Violin with Various Instruments - European, Asian & African
Fugue
Song of Quetzalcoatl
Canticle #3
Solo to Anthony Cirone

Average customer rating:

A classical guitarist who can play other music great!
Excellent interpretation of Jazz into Guita tune

Sometime Ago

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000002SKO
Release Date: 1994-05-24

Tracks:

Old Friends Children's Songs
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Fourteen
Fifteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Twenty
Sometime Ago
Koln Concert Pt l lc
Serenade
Music For Bill & Me
Sonata In Ishartum
Air
Round
Bookends

Customer Reviews:

A classical guitarist who can play other music great!.......1999-08-30

Manuel Barrueco is the best classical guitarist in the world today. He is technically superior and has created a gold standard with his recordings. Known as one of the few guitarists who can play an entire concert without a mistake, even with very difficult music, he maintains a strong lyrical sense and is simply a joy to listen to. In fact, you wonder if this is somehow contrived because it is SO GOOD, but if you have ever heard him in person, as I have, then you know that it is the way he plays. The excursion into music by Chick Corea and Paul Simon is very successful because he maintains his musicality while still being technically perfect. I have never heard a guitarist play better, including John Williams. They should lock him away like Glen Gould and let him record albums because they will still be the standard a thousand years from now!

Excellent interpretation of Jazz into Guita tune.......1999-04-19

I'm glad to be a first writer about this album. Barrueco is famous as an emperor of guitarists. His relieving and economic playing technique seems to make jazz what it is.

The Jarnet's Koln Concert is written for a piano, Manuel played a PtIIc by the guitar. In his playing I felt the things the piano can not express, but the guitar do. Of course Jarnet's piece is good, and Manuel's playing is another.

Tracks:

Esordio
Scherzo
Canto
Finale
Grave
Comodo
Misterioso
Cantando
Part One: The Tune
Part One: Variation I
Part One: Variation II
Part One: Variation III
Part One: Variation IV
Part One: Variation V
Part One: Variation VI
Part Two: Variation I
Part Two: Variation II
Part Two: Variation III
Part Two: Variation IV
Part Two: Variation V
Fourth Knee Play
Serenade
Sarabande
Like A Distant Shower Of Silver
Rollicking
Allegretto
Melancholy
Rapid, Like Raindrops
Loud And Fast And Dry
Brisk - Maestoso

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended.......2003-10-07

I, too, bought this album specifically to hear the Glass piece. I had no idea the rest of the album would be such a treat! Leisner makes "Fourth Knee Play" sound as though it was originally written for the guitar, and there isn't a single bad cut on this album. If you buy this one, don't overlook the liner notes. What's really important about this album is that all of the composers are 20th century composers, and Leisner knew all of them personally, save for one. He explains, for instance, that he met Philip Glass on the subway. Lastly, be sure to listen for the most important thing about this album- if you play it loudly enough, and listen very closely, you can hear the guitar's repertoire expanding.

For those interested in the Glass selection..........2003-04-03

I confess that I haven't spent much time with any of the tracks on this disc apart from Philip Glass' Knee Play 4, so let this review serve only as a review of that piece.

As is indicated by the significant difference in length between this version of the popular Einstein on the Beach segment and any of the original opera recordings, this version contains new material. Actually, the new material really just represents one other violin passage from the opera that wasn't originally performed within Knee Play No. 4. The performance of the piece on this recording is nice but isn't quite everything I was hoping it would be. The recording quality is very professional, but the performance somehow lacks the vigor of the original.