Lou Harrison (1917-2003) was an American composer who was among his teachers to Arnold Schoenberg and Henry Cowell and among his friends, John Cage and Charles Ives. During his career he became interested in world music, incorporating elements of various traditions in his compositions, and everyday items (clocks, car brakes ...). Also moved away from the understanding of Western music in its use of just intonation system instead of equal temperament and his use of microtones, what about other contemporary composers such as Ligeti and Scelsi. Many times he has been considered a forerunner of the Minimalists, but their interests were very different. His work Tributes to Charon, for percussion trio and alarm clock is one of many who wrote in the 1930 for percussion ensemble and used to play himself with help from his friends. The second movement was composed in 1939 at the request of John Cage, but the former was not released until 1982, but Harrison had already designed its structure and instrumentation from the beginning. Despite its brevity, this piece is evident Harrison's interest in the variety of timbre, the transformation of melodic motifs and formal coherence.
Lou Harrison's intention with this piece was to illustrate the story of Persephone, abducted by Pluto to become his wife, who spends half years accompanying him in the underworld (Movement I: Passage Through Darkness) and the other half in the area with her mother, Ceres, goddess of grain (movement II: Counterdance in the Spring).
listen Tributes to Charon played by Graziano Colella, Claudio Marchetti and Didier Bellon, led by Guido Facchin.
Video
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