Bali to New York
music:
Double Music
(John Cage &
Lou Harrison)
With its infinite rhythmic patterning and metal percussion orchestration, Indonesian gamelan music
has had a strong influence on many composers.
The American Colin McPhee spent several years in Bali during the 1930s transcribing this luminous and fiery music including Balinese Ceremonial Music. In the following decade, under the spell of this magical sound world, John Cage and Lou Harrison collaborated on Double Music for an assortment of Chinese gongs,
water buffalo bells and thunder sheet.
Charlie Barber's Kantilan Karangan, a re-invention of traditional arabesques of Balinese music, is heard alongside the motoric rhythms of Steve Reich’s seminal minimalist classic Piano Phase and the eastward-looking Fifth Simfony by West Coast composer Lou Harrison.
The programme is performed by two pianists and four percussionists:
Semra Kurutaç & Kate Halsall (pianos / keyboards)
Hugh Wilkinson, Dave Danford, Gareth Hamlin & Nick Baron (percussion)
The concerts in Cardiff and Manchester include performances by gamelan groups from
St David’s Hall and the Royal Northern College of Music respectively.
Sound Affairs gratefully acknowledges financial assistance from the Arts Council of Wales, Britten-Pears Foundation and the Hinrichsen Foundation
Sound Affairs gratefully acknowledges financial assistance from the Arts Council of Wales, Britten-Pears Foundation and the Hinrichsen Foundation
