Customer Reviews

Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation

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Michael Harrison: Revelation

Because I pay attention to music critics--this was on the best of lists for the New York Times and then the Boston Globe and in Time Out New York--I purchased this recording. I love traditional classical music, so when I heard this, and played it through a great pair of headphones and then on amazing speakers, the muisc was a true discovery. I had no idea the piano could sound like this. I am truly blown away. At times I think it sounds like two pianos playing, not one. This is both a musical journey and a spiritual one as well. It is like discovering a new cuisine--truly a feast for the ears. Congrats to Cantaloupe and the brilliant engineer who made this CD--you have brought stunning new music to the world.

The sound of this piano, with its alternate tuning, can be a means towards greater extremes, greater consonance as well as dissonance. However, unlike Charles Ives experiments with quarter-tones in the 1920s: Charles Ives: Three Quarter-Tone Pieces; Five Take-offs; Hallowe'en; Sunrise, the compositions here are rather insipid and hackneyed in their typical "new-age" aimlessness. Once the novelty of the sound wears off, there is not much of interest.