eMusic Review 0
The late Lou Harrison had no time for the thorny academia of the classical avant-garde. Oh, he knew how to do it, and early works show him duly following the many rules of the day. But at some point, Harrison decided such music wasn't speaking to him, and was unlikely to speak to many listeners either. One transformative moment for him in the 1930s was hearing an Indonesian gamelan, the ringing, metallic percussion orchestras of the Javanese courts. That sound would color his lyrical, melodic music for the rest of the century, and this album might be the finest single disc of his music. Can't-miss highlights include "Main Bersama-sama," for French horn and small gamelan; the "Threnody for Carlos Chavez," for viola and the same gamelan; and the "String Quartet Set," inspired by medieval peasant dances and Turkish court music, and played by a then-emerging ensemble known as the Kronos Quartet.
