Lou Harrison: Composing a World - Hardcover

Miller, Leta E.; Lieberman, Frederic

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195110226 ISBN 13: 9780195110227

Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, 1998

Synopsis

An in-depth biography and exploration of the work of composer, Lou Harrison, based on detailed research and extensive interviews. Individual chapters are devoted to music and dance; intonation and tuning; instruments; Asian influences; gamelan; music and politics; music criticism; and compositional processes. In a separate chapter, the author explores lifestyle issues, including the historical background of the San Francisco gay community and possible "gay markers" in Harrison's music. An extensive annotated catalogue details more than 300 works and an audio CD included with the book illustrates the text in sound.

About this title

Review:

"An inspirational assessment of the American maverick" -- BBC Music Magazine, selection of the best books of 1999, December 1999

From the Author:

Response to Kirkus and other comments
The reviewer for Kirkus has described our book well, and I agree with nearly everything in her or his paragraph. The only quibble regards what is termed a "current of obsequy" that the reviewer finds to run "throughout the book."

Aside from the difficulty of working on a biography whose subject is still very much a living, working artist, I spent three years on this project because I have admired Lou Harrison the man, and much of his music, for more than 35 years, and found it remarkable that no comprehensive study of his work existed. Considering that, at 81, he is one of the most senior and highly respected living American composers, the lack of such a book was even more surprising. We realized that perhaps it was Lou's very breadth of interests that made it difficult for any single individual to encompass all aspects of Lou's world, hence the collaboration.

Lou gave us free and total access to his personal archives of manuscripts, letters, books, paintings, as well as considerable time in approximately 20 formal interviews and innumerable informal ones. He read the manuscript for accuracy, but never attempted to influence our critical judgment, or to second-guess if we rejected his point-of-view (we cross-checked interviews with about 50 further interviews of friends, colleagues, students, and critics--as well as with written sources--and found contradictory information that we resolved as best fit the facts, which were not always as Lou remembered them).

We made a conscious choice to write this book with an informal tone, rather than an academic one, both to reflect Lou's personality, and to make it accessible to readers not conversant with the technicalities of music theory or not comfortable with the obfuscation inherent in much contemporary academic prose. Nevertheless we took considerable pains to document sources, and strove for accuracy. If we have erred on the side of informality, it's a risk we chose with open eyes. We wrote with respect and friendship, though not shying away from painful subjects such as Lou's traumatic nervous breakdown in NYC or his gay lifestyle (though we had to honor the privacy of individuals who asked not to be identified). While we quote reviewers who wax enthusastic about Lou's music, we also quote those who were left flat--not in any sense trying to give "equal time," but to attempt an understanding of the distinction between East Coast and West Coast attitutes about music.

We hope that our book and CD will introduce many music-lovers to this remarkable composer, and look forward to further reviews and reader comment.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0195110226
• ISBN 13: 9780195110227
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320