Michael Harrison

Today we’re listening to Michael Harrison, an American pianist and composer from Oregon. His father and grandfather were distinguished mathematicians, a field to which Harrison was exposed throughout childhood. While studying composition as an undergrad at the University of Oregon, he was transfixed by Indian raga, per the New York Times:

Trying to understand what he was hearing, he read the entry on “just intonation” in the Harvard Dictionary of Music. Associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, just intonation is a mathematically pure tuning system in which intervals between notes are based on whole-number ratios. As Western music evolved, it shifted to “tempered” tuning, which allowed musicians to move between keys more easily but which abandoned the purity of the Pythagorean ratios. In non-Western music like ragas, though, older modes of tuning persisted. Mr. Harrison came to believe that just intonation was the correct path, one that corresponded to his emerging, spiritual conception of music.

He went on to study with La Monte Young and in the ‘80s created a “harmonic piano,” which contained 24 notes per octave. We’re playing two of his solo piano LPs: In Flight from 1987 and Revelation from 2007. Harrison passed away last week at age 67.

In Flight: Piano Solos - Michael Harrison (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Revelation - Michael Harrison (71m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

Have a great Wednesday.