Sonic Asymmetry

Henry Cowell: “Ongaku”

ヘンリー・コーウェル： 「音楽」

TIME COMMITMENT: 14 minutes

In a belated bow to Japonsime, Cowell masterfully assembles a toxic palette of shimmering komorebi, diverting in form (though not in spirit) from the flute- and drum-reliant canon of traditional gagaku music.  As the grandfather of tone clusters and polyharmonies, the composer excelled in metrical inventiveness – which was abundantly clear in his Persian pieces, but is less immediately observable here.

MUSIC

INFO

https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=FECD-0003&catNum=FECD-0003&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English

A REFLECTION

Softly, O softly we bear her along,

She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;

She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,

She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.

Sarojini Naidu: “Palanquin bearers”