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| MUSIC_NEW WORKS Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation (Complete and Abridged Versions, 1999-2006) In October 2007 Bang on a Can’s Cantaloupe Music label released the long awaited recording of Harrison’s Revelation: Music In Pure Intonation. Revelation utilizes innovative tuning relationships to further develop just intonation—an ancient tuning system where the distances between notes are based upon whole number ratios. The result is a 72-minute work where groups of notes played together rapidly with both hands form “…pulsating, shimmering walls of sound in which all kinds of ghost-like sound effects and structures appear” (The Wire). Mark Swed of the LA Times says of Revelation: “Perhaps the most surprising quality of Revelation is its straightforward sensuality…along with heaping doses of old-fashioned, jaw-dropping virtuosity that simply pull the listener along.” Revelation was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation Award (2006), IBLA Foundation International Competition Prize in Music Composition (2004), and Peter S. Reed Foundation Individual Artist Grant (2001). MP3 Audio Samples [ordering the CD] Radio Interview on John Schaefer's "New Sounds" (WNYC) Book Excerpts Video Program Notes by Stuart Iscaoff Program Notes by the composer Audio Program Notes by the composer Music in Pure Intonation Performances Cantaloupe Music CD Press Release Score Samples Revelation Tuning Michael is currently composing three new works that will be included as part of the Michael Harrison & Friends Tour during the 2008-09 Season: Cellorchestra (2007) : The work utilizes Harrison’s approach to Music in Pure Intonation with repeated modules that overlap to create the sound of a string orchestra including 27 independent parts that sound simultaneously. This work was commissioned by the MELA Foundation to honor the bestowal of Wendy Sutter’s Amati-Stradivarius cello and will be recorded on Philip Glass’ Orange Mountain label (approx. 20 minutes in duration). There are currently four different versions of this work in progress: 1. Cellorchestra (for solo amplified cello and media) -- played live with a CD of 27 pre-recorded cello parts 2. Cellorchestra (for solo amplified cello with live effects) -- played live with an Echoplex electronic “looping” device 3. Cellorchestra (for 8 celli) 4. Cellorchestra (for string orchestra) Tone Clouds: A work for the San Francisco based Del Sol Quartet that will be amplified and processed with live effects and combined with pre-recorded media. Based on the tuning system and the last three movements of Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation. The work will be performed at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco in March of 2009 (approx. 25 minutes in duration). There are two versions of this work in progress: 1. Tone Clouds (for amplified string quartet and media) -- played with live effects and the last 3 sections of the Cantaloupe CD of Revelation 2. Tone Clouds (for amplified string quartet and piano tuned in pure intonation) Ragas: A series of adaptations of traditional North Indian ragas and compositions for Indian classical musicians and piano—with the piano tuned in the pure intonation for each raga. This ongoing collaborative series includes performances and recordings with master Indian vocalist Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, bansuri bamboo flutist Steve Gorn, tabla virtuoso Nitin Mitta, and others. MP3 Audio Sample Video Sample |
