4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, Calm Music Marred by Bombastic Announcements, April 18, 2011
This review is from: Gamelan Music (Audio CD)
Lou Harrison was a composer from the West Coast who, although trained in classical music, took a strong interest in non-Western tonal systems, and this is demonstrated by the music he wrote for the gamelan. In the pieces presented here Harrison pairs the gamelan with a saxophone, a violin, a trumpet, and singers. It is for the most part beautiful, calm, and hypnotic. I was annoyed only by a couple of spots in the "Homage to Pacifica" in which an announcer very bombastically tells us how nature and Native Americans were "screwed;" it's not that I disagree with what is said, but it doesn't serve the music and pointlessly browbeats the audience.
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