From: mclaren
Subject: Lou Harrison
---
Several folks have wondered why
my posts never mention Lou Harrison.
Rest assured, it's not because the
fellow isn't a fine composer, an
excellent writer, or an all-around
nice guy.
However, Lou almost always uses 12
tones. Several of these pitches are
slightly tweaked from their 12-tone
equal-tempered aalues, and the
effect is sometimes a tiny bit exotic...
But never anywhere *near* as exotic as,
say, a 31-tone glissando, let alone
Harry Partch's music.
So, by and large, Lou Harrison's
music sounds to these old ears like
bent 12. A couple of notes skewed...
a few harmonies slightly "off"...
otherwise it's business as usual.
Naturally, many forum subscribers
will vehemently deny this. Naturally,
they are (let us say) "deliberately
mistaken." As incontrovertible proof,
you need only peruse Lou Harrison's
scores: he himself usually offers
an alternate score written in
12-tone equal temperament.
You can say many things about such
compositional practice, but one
thing you CANNOT say is that it's
awfully microtonal. Let's face it,
folks--if you write music which
also exists in alternate 12-tone equal-
tempered versions, common sense tells
you it can't be all that
non-12-sounding.
Inevitably one must set up a final
dividing line between music which is and
is not microtonal--otherwise ALL music
becomes microtonal, and the definition
"microtonal" ceases to define and becomes
meaningless.
My decision to draw the line at Lou
Harrison's music implies nothing about his
skill as a composer, his adroitness as a
writer, or his worth as a person. He's a
neat guy and a wonderful composer. His
music simply doesn't sound as though it
ever departs significantly from the
familiar Western 12-tone idiom.
--mclaren
