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In Memory of Victor Jowers (1967)
| composer |
Lou Harrison (1917-2003) |
| performers |
Laura DeLuca, clarinet
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon, harp |
| publisher |
Frog Peak Music (BMI)http://www.frogpeak.org
|
| recording |
Live concert performance at Drums Along the Pacific festival, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, Washington, March 27, 2009 |
| duration |
03:46 |
Lou Harrison:
"My good and jovial friend, Victor Jowers, died pathetically and slowly of blood cancer. He had been made to watch atom bomb tests in Nevada. Gradually we learn little bits of information about US use of citizens as subjects of lethal experiments. We will never know all of such done in the past, nor, indeed, of what is presently being committed. It is heartrending to know this."
Lou Harrison (1917-2003) is known for an eclectic body of work which features diverse systems of intonation, traditional Asian instruments, and a combination of Eastern and Western musical styles.
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Harrison initially studied in San Francisco in 1935 with Henry Cowell, who introduced him to the music of Charles Ives as well as Native American and early Californian culture. As a dance accompanist for Mills College in Oakland, Harrison met John Cage, with whom he arranged percussion concerts in 1941; a year later he studied with Arnold Schoenberg at the University of California, Los Angeles. Harrison lived in New York City from 1943 to 1951, where he wrote for a number of periodicals and conducted the premiere of Ives' Third Symphony (1904-1911), for which Ives received the Pulitzer Prize (but gave the prize money to Harrison and composer John Becker).
Towards the end of his stay in New York, Harrison began to work with just intonation, inspired by the publication of Harry Partch's Genesis of a Music in 1949. He held residencies at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina (1951-1952) before permanently settling in Aptos, California. In the 1960's Harrison received grants allowing him to travel to Korea and Taiwan, where he studied Korean court music with Lee Hye-Ku and Chinese classical music with Liang Tsai-Ping.
At various points in his career, Harrison made a living as a florist, record clerk, poet, dancer, critic, music copyist, calligraphist, painter, playwright, teacher, and instrument builder. He held academic positions at the University of Hawaii, San Jose State University, Stanford University, and other schools until finally joining the faculty of Mills College in 1980. With partner William Colvig he built many non-Western and folk instruments, including two gamelans in just intonation which remain in use at San Jose State University and Mills College. Harrison's music has been recorded on many labels including Albany, Bridge, CRI, Crystal, Koch International Classics, Mode, Music & Arts, New Albion, New World, and Phoenix.
related websites
http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/harrisonbio.html
Clarinetist Laura DeLuca has performed with the Seattle Symphony since 1986 and as a co-founding member of the Seattle Chamber Players since 1989. A versatile musician and collaborator, she embraces chamber music of many different styles and genres, including klezmer music. Performances with the Seattle Chamber Players have taken her to festivals in Europe, Asia, and Central America; other regular regional performances include the Icicle Creek and Richmond Music Festivals, Music of Remembrance, Town Hall Series, and the recently-formed Trio Tara, with clarinet, viola and piano. DeLuca has performed on more than 100 CDs with the Seattle Symphony, and has been a featured clarinetist on many movie soundtracks including the Academy Award-winning documentaries The Long Way Home (1997) and Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000). DeLuca received her formal training at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where her principal teacher was Robert Marcellus.
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon is principal harp of the Seattle Symphony, a position she has held since the age of 23. She has also served as guest principal harp of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Nice Philharmonic, and appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a soloist, Gordon has performed with the Seattle and Vancouver Symphonies and at the Tanglewood and Verbier Festivals. An active chamber musician and avid proponent of new music, she performs regularly with Music of Remembrance, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Seattle Chamber Players. A native of Nice, France, Gordon began her musical education at the Conservatoire de Nice and continued her studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Marilyn Costello and Judy Loman, and Yale University with Nancy Allen.
related websites
http://www.ssopo.org/musicians_profiles.html?ni=26
http://www.cornish.edu/music/faculty/valerie_muzzolini_gordon
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