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Original album of one 10-inch shellac 78 rpm record. Side A: APS 189 CH1; Side B: APS 190 CH2. Original gilt-printed Photo & Sound labels, housed in the original blank stiff paper folder. Lou Harrison's first recording: an exceptionally rare early recording of the original John Cage-Lou Harrison percussion ensemble, documenting the formative years of American experimental music. The first recording of one of Lou Harrison's early percussion works, issued at the formative moment of the American West Coast percussion movement and documenting the collaboration of Harrison, John Cage, Xenia Cage, Margaret Jansen, and Doris Dennison. The recording originated in the California Hall concert of 14 May 1941, held on Harrison's twenty-fourth birthday, at which Cage and Harrison presented alternating programmes of new percussion compositions, concluding with the premiere of their jointly composed Double Music. The sold-out concert generated sufficient proceeds to finance the recording of a single work from the programme. Chosen by audience vote, Harrison's Simfony No. 13 was recorded in the Sherman Clay Music Building studio the following autumn, becoming his first recording. Cage and Harrison financed a limited pressing themselves, distributing copies among friends, which helps explain the exceptional rarity of the surviving issue. The labels identify the performers as John Cage, Xenia Cage, Margaret Jansen, Doris Dennison, and the composer. Together they formed the nucleus of the San Francisco percussion circle that helped shape post-war American experimental music. In a later interview Harrison recalled the circumstances of the recording, noting that Cage conducted while also performing and describing the practical demands of the ensemble. He also recalled that he and Cage had adopted Organizations of Sound as the title of their projected recording series, consciously echoing Edgard Varčse's concept of "organized sound", prompting an indignant response from Varčse after he received a copy of the record. Issued by the little-known San Francisco company Photo & Sound Incorporated, the present album preserves a rare contemporary document of the California percussion movement at one of its defining moments. As Harrison's first recording, produced directly from the landmark California Hall concert, it documents the collaborative work of Harrison, John Cage, and their percussion ensemble during the formative years of American experimental and avant-garde music. References: Alves, B., & Campbell, B. (2017). Lou Harrison: American musical maverick. Indiana University Press.; Harrison, L., & Siwe, T. (1980, Winter). Lou Harrison at the University of Illinois. Percussive Notes, 18(2), 30-35, 57-62.; Miller, L. E., & Lieberman, F. (1998). Lou Harrison: Composing a world. Oxford University Press. . Folder toned and lightly stained, corners bumped; record in fine condition. Original album of one 10-inch shellac 78 rpm record. Side A: APS 189 CH1; Side B: APS 190 CH2. Original gilt-printed Photo & Sound labels, housed in the original blank stiff paper folder.
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