Cowell: Mosaic

Henry Cowell (Composer, Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Henry Cowell
• Composer: Henry Cowell
• Audio CD (March 23, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Mode
• ASIN: B00000I168
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #382,541 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

2. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

3. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

4. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

5. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

6. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

7. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

8. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

9. Mosaic Quartet, for 2 violins, viola & cello (aka String Quartet No. 3)

10. Take 8

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Polyphonica, for chamber orchestra, HC 458

2. Simultaneous Mosaics (26), for violin, clarinet, cello, percussion & pi

3. Quartet Euphometric, for string quartet, HC 283

4. Quartet Romantic, for 2 flutes, violin & viola, HC 223

5. Quartet Romantic, for 2 flutes, violin & viola, HC 223

6. String Quartet No. 1 ("Quartett Pedantic"), HC 197

7. String Quartet No. 1 ("Quartett Pedantic"), HC 197

8. Simultaneous Mosaics (26), for violin, clarinet, cello, percussion & pi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The versatility of Henry Cowell..., September 4, 2009

By 

KISSHRHS (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cowell: Mosaic (Audio CD)

This CD presents Cowell's experimental side ('10s-'30s) in chamber music in the most successful way. It moreover contains pieces of his nowhere else to be found:

His 3 string quartets stand out, with the 3rd in especial (Mosaic Quartet-1935) being the precursor of Boulez-Stockhausen's & Cage-Feldman's experiments in "open-form" 20 years later.
Quartet Euphometric & Quartet Romantic (1915-19) are Cowell's wildest realization of the concept of "rhythm-harmony" (extremely difficult to perform).
Return (1939) is one his 3 pieces written exclusively for percussion, and at the same time one of the first pieces of such a setting in western history (the first being Amadeo Roldan's Ritmicas V & VI-1930). Cowell wrote it while in prison...
Suite for wind quintet (1934) blends consonance and dissonance in a very Cowellian way, and Polyphonica for chamber orchestra (1928) shows him at his more abstract and austere, much in the manner of the Sinfonietta.
In 26 Simultaneous Mosaics "all players start & stop as they please and choose the order of the movements as they please" (Cowell's instructions); the piece, written at the end of his life (1963), is presented here in 3 different takes, something that does justice to the alternative universe it belongs to. The freedom of the resulting sound gives out a characteristic Ivesian aroma...
Last but not least, an oddity named Quartet for flute, oboe, cello and harp is there to remind us of Cowell's parallel, completely consonant likings, which are, however, not to be found in this double CD...

A 'must' for anyone who's interested in immersing one's head in Cowell's versatile experiments!