Lou Harrison’s music, delightful as it often is, can sound monotonous in large quantities. He’s at his best when using characteristic instruments such as tack pianos and gamelan percussion, where the sheer sonority of the music offsets its repetitiousness and simplicity. This disc, previously released on CRI, contains some of his most popular works, including the Concerto in Slendro and the Suite for Percussion, both very well played and recorded. Harrison’s memorial to Carlos Chavez also is well worth getting to know, although the combination of horn and percussion in Main Bersama-Sama doesn’t seem to work as well as Harrison’s pieces featuring a stringed instrument (part of the problem lies with Scott L. Hartman’s somewhat rough-and-ready horn playing). And speaking of the playing, the Kronos Quartet fiddles accurately in the String Quartet Set, but without much beauty of tone, and this counts in music whose surface sheen should consistently captivate the listener. Still, this is a well put-together and recommendable collection of pieces by one of American music’s most original voices. Enjoy it a little bit at a time.
