Composer a Hero in World of New Music

Given the twin focus on contemporary classical and world music in the “Musics Alive!” series, it was perhaps inevitable that Lou Harrison would make his way to town as a featured guest. The time has come.

Harrison, who is just shy of 80 and busier than ever, is a great American composer who has successfully bridged different musical cultures, especially through melding Western classical and Indonesian music. A peer of such maverick American composers as John Cage and Henry Cowell, Harrison has carved a unique path, creating sinewy yet meditative music that runs counter to dominant academic trends in music. It also predates--and has influenced--the minimalists’ use of Indonesian music.

In addition, Harrison can also be thanked, in part, for the introduction of the gamelan--an Indonesian ensemble of wood, string and, primarily, percussion instruments-- to the States. He teaches it, writes for it and has helped his partner William Colvig build a set of gamelan instruments. In short, Harrison is a hero in the realm of new music, world music division.

Harrison will make his arrival in Ventura with some degree of fanfare, as the New West Symphony’s Boris Brott leads a modest orchestral force, and pianist Gloria Cheng takes the soloist role in the composer’s popular “Suite for Piano, Violin and Small Orchestra.” The piece was written in 1951, and, as the composer says, “has held the boards ever since.” It gained a higher profile in 1988, with a fine recording featuring Keith Jarrett, on the New World label.

Sunday’s culture-crossing program also includes etudes by the late French composer Olivier Messiaen, played by Cheng--perhaps Southern California’s finest pianistic new music exponent--and Poulenc’s “Le Bal Masque,” performed by baritone James Kenney. The Polynesian ensemble Nonsina rounds out the concert.

Last week, the ever-amicable Harrison spoke from his home near Santa Cruz. His interests extend beyond music to include poetry, calligraphy (he has designed several fonts for computer), sign language and painting. Next on the agenda: He and Colvig plan to build a getaway house out of straw bales in Joshua Tree.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of music to write. Apart from commissions and recordings around the world, Harrison’s music and knowledge have recently been tapped by the San Francisco Symphony. He has found a strong ally in new conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, for whom Harrison wrote the piece “Parade for MTT.”

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Was there a specific point in your musical development when you turned sharply away from Western tradition?

No, I’m nonlinear. For example, this year, I have sort of been co-opted by the San Francisco Symphony. It’s irritating, but still, they coerce me with Cadillacs and things like that, and put me up in nice hotels. They’re lovely to work with. MTT [Michael Tilson Thomas] is, of course, a composer himself and a great conductor.

But then it’s lovely to hear the gamelan again in our home. I do regard the two entities as sort of alternate traditions. Neither is above the other for me. But the actual sound of the gamelan is more appealing to me than that of a symphony orchestra.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had an actual raising of hair and pouring of tear with the sound of a symphony orchestra, where I have had that with gamelan, because of its sheer sensuous beauty.

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But you have merged the two worlds at various times.

Well, there is now a movement underfoot to cause me to write a symphonic work with gamelan . . . and I just don’t believe that it can be done. At least I can’t do it. In the first place, the tuning is too disparate and I’d have an awful time trying to deal with that.

Whereas there are a number of Western instruments, or Northwest Asian, as I call it, that can change pitches sufficiently to play with a variety of gamelans. For example, this is true of the saxophone, the violin and other things. There has been a trombone work written for gamelan. Even the piano can be retuned for playing with a gamelan.

That sort of soloistic representation is perfectly normal, because in Javanese, Balinese and Sundanese gamelan, there are soloists. There’s no reason not to put in a Western soloist if you want to. I’ve done a fair amount of that. But writing for a gamelan and a Western orchestra is not for me, despite the allurements by nice people.

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How would you describe the Indonesian elements in the “Suite for Piano, Violin and Small Orchestra?”

There are movements in the suite called “Gamelan” 1 and 2. They are imitations of gamelan. The first one imitates the larger gamelan and, incidentally, is based on a scale that I found in a Roy Harris String Quartet. The second one is pentatonic, based on Balinese music.

But those movements are embedded in a suite which is otherwise not too influenced by East Asia. They become little jewels or items in it.

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How much of your time is involved with gamelan performance and composition?

Not much these days. I didn’t assume my formal teaching position with Cabrillo College, where I would have been teaching gamelan this spring. But the gamelan players get hooked, of course. Once the class is over with, they simply form a club and go on.

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You seem pretty well-rounded in terms of outside interests. You aren’t one to burrow into a small room to compose for hours on end to the exclusion of all else, are you?

No. As a matter of fact, I don’t like that at all. My current range of commissions causes me to do that, and I don’t like it. It means that I haven’t time to paint or write much verse and so on. I still have another book of poetry to come out--24-hour work on scores is not my idea of paradise.

Also, Bill and I have bought an acre in Joshua Tree. We’re going to build a straw-bale getaway home, using the new technology. It’s spreading like wildfire.

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Do you feel that you’ve arrived at a sense of balance with all your various activities?

No, not at all. I’m having to ruthlessly write. It’s very hard on me. This constant concentration on music makes me hate the art, so it’s rough, but that’s the way it goes.

I’m getting to be pretty persnickety about commissions. I have to. After all, I’m what is called a “Chinese 80.” They always give you an extra year. It’s logical. The Chinese would say I’m already 80. Thinking about it Western-style, I’m turning 39 in May, and then I’ll turn 80 the next year.

DETAILS

* WHAT: “Polynesia Alive!” featuring Lou Harrison’s “Suite for Piano, Violin, and Small Orchestra.”

* WHERE: Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St. in Ventura.

* WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

* HOW MUCH: Tickets are $25.

* CALL: 643-8646.