Lou Harrison book on the way...

The forthcoming book "Lou Harrison: Composing a World" (co-authored by Leta
Miller and me (Fred Lieberman), and with the kind assistance of several
tuning-l participants--John Chalmers, David Doty, Larry Polansky, and
others) is scheduled for July release by Oxford University Press. (And
should be on time--we're reading page proofs now.)

You can get a preview by checking out our incipient website, which will
grow to become a color/sound supplement to the book itself (since the
publisher only permitted use of color on the book's cover). It's at:



The book will include a CD of Lou's work that should open some ears. 9 of
the 12 works are first recordings, including David Doty's superb
realization of the intonationally path-breaking "Simfony in Free Style" on
MIDI synthesizers. Also, some real finds and rarities from Lou's personal
archive, particularly his own superb performance, recorded at his Aptos
cabin, of his "Suite from Cinna" for tackpiano, prefaced by Lou's
demonstration of the scale, intervals, and tuning method for this work. And
two improvisations on Greek modes by Lou and Richard Dee (we think John
Chalmers was playing, too, but perhaps modestly pianissimo in the
background). The full contents of the CD is listed on the website above.

Unfortunately, for legal reasons, we won't be able to issue the CD
independently from the book, but Oxford is listing the book-CD combination
at a modest $35, and we're working to insure that at least 20% discounts
will be available to tuning-l members (see the website for details on
getting on the "early adopter" list!).