Leopold Godowsky's "Java Suite"

This is a little funny. My wife was given a CD of Leopold Godowsky's
"Java Suite." Apparently Godowsky was a known American composer and
pianist at the turn of the century, teaching at the Chicago
Conservatory. Has anyone ever heard of this piece??

With movement titles like "Gamelan," "Wayang-Purva (Puppet Shadow
Plays)", etc., there is an approximation to Javanese music. It's not
entirely unpleasant.

But it is all for piano solo in 12-tET!!!

Why is this interesting?

Well, it seems like a possible way to assess the real impact of
intonation in this music. How much of the integral nature of this music
is in the tuning, and how much is in structures that could be
replicated, imitated or approximated through other tuning systems?? Of
course, the entire attempt was to "paraphrase" orientalisms in a
quotational sense... I believe all the rage at that time... Debussy,
Ravel come to mind.

Well... my own feeling was that it was a bit like the difference between
a "black and white" photo and a color one... the experience not being
totally destroyed, but certainly "cheapened" in the 12-tET.

I am certain that some would feel even more strongly about this
intonational inaccuracy. In fact, I believe this was the kind of music
that was banned in Anaphoria around 1895, due to its intonational
infidelities....

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Joseph Pehrson