Jazz Articles about Michael Harrison

Michael Harrison: Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation

by John Kelman
December 9, 2007

Certain instruments lend themselves more readily to unorthodox tunings. The guitar, for example, is an instrument tailor-made for alteration, with artists like Joni Mitchell creating dozens of altered tunings, encouraging approaches not possible with conventional tuning. Classical pianist/composer Michael Harrison has devised a unique tuning for the far more unwieldy piano that, while it may drive some piano tuners into a career change, yields remarkable and previously unheard of results on Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation.