I have had very little time to prepare new items for the blog for a while, so I will be posting some transfers that I made a while back and didn't complete for one reason or another.In this case, I didn't follow through because while I am very fond of one work on the LP, the other leaves me cold.
The record in question is part of a series on Epic Records presenting contemporary compositions sponsored by the Fromm Music Foundation. This "Twentieth Century Composers Series" included works by Elliott Carter, Luigi Dallapiccola, Lukas Foss, Leon Kirchner, Ernst Krenek and Ben Weber, as well as these Mass settings by Lou Harrison and Wilhelm Killmayer.
I just don't care for the stiff Missa Brevis by the German composer Killmayer, but I will comment on Harrison's beautiful Mass, which is usually called the "Mass to St. Anthony". This record memorializes the second of three versions of the Mass, which has more conventional orchestration than the percussion accompaniment of the version Harrison began in 1939, when he was in his early 20s. He restored the original orchestration, with some additions, in 2001, a few years before his death.
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| Margaret Hillis |
Orchestral conducting was Hillis' first love, but opportunities for women were then even more restricted than they are now. Nonetheless, she left many fine recordings, this among them.
By the way, Blogger's photo function has become dysfunctional, so many of the images on this blog are not appearing at all. I had to use a work-around to post the photos seen here.
Link (FLAC):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediafire.com/?gj6ic7v280mdeix
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Deletehello there Buster - i remember i had the same trouble with blogger once ...i think i had to update or clear something maybe cookies ...will look into and get back.....sounds like a great series of LPs....and into another year of blogging!! yehhhh.
ReplyDeleteMany, many thanks!
ReplyDeleteyoung Harrison in mass setting - it's very interesting. lot of thanks, dear Buster!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Buster !!
ReplyDeleteAny chance of a MP3 file? I remember this record fondly. It was the work by Harrison that I discovered after his "Four Strict Songs," released on the Louisville First Editions series in 1956.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you for this great music
ReplyDeleteThank you very much!
ReplyDeleteVery strange quality of digitization... Hard to listen...
ReplyDeleteBuster, thank you so much for this and all the fabulous music you share with us!
ReplyDeleteRe: Maria Schumacher's comment: the sound is excellent, a fine transfer from the LP. Since MS gives nothing specific at all, I strongly suspect the problem is at her end, not yours. (Service departments get vague complaints like this all the time -- nearly always solved by something along the line of, "try plugging it in.")
Meanwhile, keep up the great work, Buster!
sneffels - Thanks! I didn't know what to make of it myself. I don't usually pay too much attention to complaints about the quality of my unpaid work, which thankfully are infrequent. I prefer to concentrate on responding to people like you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for uploading the Harrison Mass. I can remember many years ago playing it while putting tinsel on a Christmas tree in our first apartment. Magical.
ReplyDeleteBob H - Yes, it's a wonderful piece!
ReplyDeleteAs a former student of Lou Harrison, I'd like to thank you, Buster, for this remarkable record. For many years I've wanted to hear his Mass and now I am convinced it is a genuine masterpiece by one of the most brilliant, protean composers of the modern era. Here's my quid pro quo: Lou played for us, in one of our classes, his copy of Leopold Stokowski's then fairly recent broadcast of the Koto Concerto by Henry Cowell (his great friend and mentor), with Kimio Eto, given live by, um, a famous east coast orchestra on Dec. 18, 1964. I obtained a copy of his open reel and offer a digital transfer of it. The rest of the concert consisted of Sibelius's Second Symphony, issued in a large centennial box produced by my friend Mark Obert-Thorn, about ten years ago; so I'll leave that out. It's amazing to me to think of Harrison, Cowell, and Stokowski: three great geniuses and visionaries, and that I knew at least one of them!
ReplyDeletehttps://www47.zippyshare.com/d/PBs5DrDZ/15227/Cowell_Koto_Concerto_Kimio_Eto_PO_Stokowski_12-18-64.mp3
--or--
https://www47.zippyshare.com/v/PBs5DrDZ/file.html
51 MB stereo mp3, which unfortunately will be deleted by ZS about one month after the upload date, which is 10/16/18.
8H Haggis
8H - What a wonderful thing, to be a Harrison student! I love his music, and am most grateful for this rarity.
DeleteAs a teenager, I subscribed to the Louisville Orchestra recordings series. I still remember the day Lou Harrison's "Four Strict Songs for Eight Baritones and Orchestra" arrived. It was like receiving proof of a Higher Power. Thanks for this. And, please, all Harrison and Cowell are welcome. And, yes, the Mass is a Mass-terpiee.
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