Violin, 12 brakedrums, 6 flowerpots ...

Instrumentation: violin, 12 brakedrums, 6 flowerpots, plumbers pipe, damped plumbers pipe, wind chimes (glass & metal), 2 sistra, temple blocks, dustbins, spring coils, cymbals, congas, gongs, double bass laid on its back and struck with sticks, snare drum, tom toms, maracas, 2 triangles, tin cans.
Lou Harrison's Concerto for the Violin with Percussion Orchestra calls for these instruments. A wonderful and genuinely accessible work from a composer who should be much better known. Below is the recommended recording from Madeleine Mitchell violin, Ensemble Bash and Karen Hutt percussion.


Lou Harrison's Fifth Simfony (yes really) is here.

Header photo was taken by me at Wisques, France on my recent road trip, but I couldn't see the violin. Image is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2010. Fiddlesticks was bought at retail price. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Comments

Mess Noone said…
Reminds me of a great vintage TV clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYHIqMmtS-0
1:02 pm
Pliable said…
... and developing that thread -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DDl_z1WTnA
2:04 pm
Pliable said…
On thing that I have never understood is why that Signum Classics CD does not say that the main work on it is the Lou Harrison Concerto - the rest of the works are really very worthwhile bits and pieces.

I wonder how many more copies would be sold if Lou Harrison's name was on the artwork?

Signum Classics do some fine things, but they also do some very strange things.
4:48 pm
The Wound Dresser said…
Lou was a great big sweet bear of a man,a great calligrapher,fluent in Esperanto, and lived at the end in a straw bale house in Joshua Tree,California,which is open for viewing,etc.There at present is a doc in the works about Lou
http://www.harrisondocumentary.com/
he was truly wonderful...
5:00 pm
Civic Center said…
His music, surprisingly, is sounding better with each passing year. Thanks for the reminder.
2:47 am
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