Book Review
Jul. 18th, 2013 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariHenry Cowell, Bohemian
by Michael Dustin Hicks
This brief biography of avant-garde modernist composer Henry Cowell concentrates on the first half of his life, up to his unfortunate arrest in 1936. Hicks also concentrates on the influence on Cowell of the bohemian artist community in early 20th century California. What results is a great look at Cowell's life and music with lots of information about what shaped him and his art. This is especially illuminating since many of the modernists of the day were so heavily invested in the concept of originality that they were often unwilling to acknowledge influences.
I find Henry Cowell a very interesting composer, in that he worked outside the atonal serialist trends of his time. He's a great example of someone who found other ways of writing modern music and explored other avenues - especially tone clusters and a more sonically oriented approach to composition. Hicks' book does a good job of not only explaining Cowell and his music but of showing what else was going on in the compositional world of the early 20th century besides dodecaphony.
by Michael Dustin Hicks
This brief biography of avant-garde modernist composer Henry Cowell concentrates on the first half of his life, up to his unfortunate arrest in 1936. Hicks also concentrates on the influence on Cowell of the bohemian artist community in early 20th century California. What results is a great look at Cowell's life and music with lots of information about what shaped him and his art. This is especially illuminating since many of the modernists of the day were so heavily invested in the concept of originality that they were often unwilling to acknowledge influences.
I find Henry Cowell a very interesting composer, in that he worked outside the atonal serialist trends of his time. He's a great example of someone who found other ways of writing modern music and explored other avenues - especially tone clusters and a more sonically oriented approach to composition. Hicks' book does a good job of not only explaining Cowell and his music but of showing what else was going on in the compositional world of the early 20th century besides dodecaphony.
