Koan for the day


Can any reader solve the following koan? Why in a culture that values accessibility above all else is Lou Harrison's genuinely accessible Piano Concerto almost inaccessible both on CD and in the concert hall?

* Photo shows Lou Harrison with his adored gamelan. More on the composer, his Buddhist faith and his Piano Concerto, which incidentally was composed for Keith Jarrett, here.

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Comments

Frank Little said…
Perhaps a good subject for "Composer of the Week"?
10:52 am
Pliable said…
That's a good point Frank. A quick search, which I am sure you also did, suggests Lou Harrison has never been BBC Radio 3's composer of the week.

Another indication of his puzzling negelect.
10:56 am
petemaskreplica said…
I should think at least part of the answer is the expense of re-tuning the piano. You're quite right though, he's a wonderful composer and terribly underrated, especially this side of the pond.

Amazon's cataloguing is woeful, but you can find Joanna MacGregor's recording repackaged on a 2-CD set with some Birtwistle and Hugh Wood, well worth a tenner: http://amzn.to/tMAzg6
1:11 pm
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