Michael Harrison – Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation (full album)

Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation (Cantaloupe Music, 2007) Please subscribe! Program Notes by Stuart Isacoff (excerpt): There are moments in every age when a new artistic direction seems to sprout and flourish. We can trace the slow germination and multiple sources that gave rise to it, yet a specific work or artist often comes to symbolize the break with the old. Think of Wagner’s Tristan chord, Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” Schoenberg’s Op. 23 “Piano Pieces,” or Cage’s “Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano.” Each created new possibilities for their day, transforming the musical soundscape far beyond its traditional boundaries. The same can be said of Michael Harrison’s music. This composer, who, like his early mentor, La Monte Young, is deeply influenced by the East, has created an art form that allows the piano to probe territory normally outside of its range: his music exploits the “overtones“ generated naturally by vi