On Demand
New Sounds
-
Michael Harrison (John Firman)Revelation: Music Meet Math
Guest Michael Harrison presents "Revelation," a major work for piano in the alternate tuning system known as "just intonation." Today, rather than referring to a specific historical tuning, "just intonation" represents an almost infinite variety of tunings which are based upon the principles of whole number ratios. (Like how an octave is a 2:1 ratio, where the higher note vibrates twice as fast as the lower note.) When certain complex ratios are used in "just intonation" -like the 64:63 ratio that Harrison has used in "Revelation" - the music shimmers with exotic resonance, or depending on your viewpoint, phase-shifts, beats, and bends unsettling tones between the notes of the scale that our Western ears might not be used to. On this new recording of "Revelation," Harrison uses his "harmonic piano," where it is possible to play 24 notes per octave. Just listen to the results on this New Sounds.
PROGRAM #2723, with Michael Harrison (First aired on Wed. 10-10-07)
|
ARTIST(S) |
RECORDING |
CUT(S) |
SOURCE |
|
La Monte Young |
The Well-Tuned Piano |
The Gamelan Chord, excerpt [2:00] |
Grammavision 5 CD set, out of print. But see www.melafoundation.org for info |
|
Michael Harrison |
Revelation |
Homage to La Monte [5:30] Tone Cloud II [9:00] Carillon [6:30] Tone Cloud III [5:00] Finale [5:00] Tone Cloud IV, excerpt [2:00] |
Cantaloupe #21043* www.cantaloupemusic.com * |
Podcast
Stay up to date.
Subscribe to the Podcast
New Sounds Live
2008-2009 Concert Season
Bobby Previte's musical miniatures, mystical choral music by Morton Feldman and Arvo Part, peace pieces for piano, and post-rock/post-jazz.
More
New Sounds on Facebook
Befriend us and receive infrequent reminders about show happenings! Oh, and check out our friends!
More
Things With Strings
New Sounds
Airs daily at 11PM on 93.9 FM
For this edition of New Sounds, hear new music for strings, including music from Andrew Bird, whose little-known companion album of adventurous instrumentals called “Useless Creatures” incorporates West African rhythms and showcases his multi-layered violin loops.
New Sounds Essentials: World Music
New Sounds
Airs daily at 11PM on 93.9 FM
New Sounds presents another night of recommended recordings, this time in the “world music” vein. Hear selections by the Algeria-born and San Francisco-based DJ Cheb I Sabbah, Ethiopian soul singer Mahmoud Ahmed, and others.
Away From Jazz
New Sounds
airs daily at 11PM on 93.9 FM
For this New Sounds, get a load of jazz musicians stepping away from the jazz tradition. There's music from punkass jazz melody-makers Gutbucket off of their latest release, "A Modest Proposal." Also, we'll hear from the latest by Matthew Shipp, called "Harmony and Abyss" and much more.
In Robert Moran's Kitchen
New Sounds
From October 30, 1989, the infamous "cooking show" with composer/raconteur Robert Moran. Recorded while cooking an Indian dinner in John Schaefer's kitchen, for reasons still not entirely clear. Along the way, we hear an "acoustic" version of Cage's 0:00 - for amplification of chopping vegetables and blender. And don't miss the teary conversation as onions are chopped. View the the recipes.
Comments
Refresh
What an interesting way of tuning. Early last summer, I was exposed to a piano that was tuned without equal temperament. The only problem that I have with these alternate tunings is that it is playing havoc with my perfect pitch! Oh well, I'll just have to cope. Thanks for sharing this tuning system with us.
this was interesting, i am studying math and music in school.
Any suggestions about further reading on this topic?
Jamie, if you want to read further about alternative tuning systems, a good place to start is the Just Intonation Network. http://www.justintonation.net/
Michael Harrison's piano is tuned to just one of the myriad forms of Just Intonation, but this website will give you some of the basics on these tunings.
Leave a Comment
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. WNYC reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the WNYC.org Comment Guidelines before posting.