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EXPRESS weekly newspaper Dec. 1993. Holiday Records. review by Sarah Cahill copyright 131w

LOU HARRISON: "The Perilous Chapel" (New Albion). Harrison's interest in absorbing ideas and techniques form the Near and Far East into his compositions spanned several decades, and resulted in quite beautiful music. Because this disc contains works from the '40s, we hear Harrison grappling with the same issues and procedures early on that he later refined. The 1941 Fugue and "Song of Quetzalcoatl" for instance, use found instruments and percussion like cowbells, a washtub, glasses, a wooden rattle, and brake drums. The Harp Suite, a collection of movements from the 50s to the 70s, uses Korean and ancient Babylonian modes. The excellent musicians who play on this disc, including William Winant and David Tanenbaum, live in the Bay Area.


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