The Whole World of Music: A Henry Cowell Symposium - Nicholls, David (Amsterdam Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997)
It is impossible to contain Henry Cowell within the boundaries of the consistencies of forms, styles, ensembles, and genres of Western art music. John Cage once described Cowell as the "open sesame for new music in America." Of the thousand or so works catalogued by William Lichtenwanger, the majority are formally innovative single movement vocal or instrumental pieces, although there are 20 symphonies, five string quartets, and 8 suites of various kinds. Cowell was also innovative in his use of instruments from different cultures (jalatarang, dragonmouths, Japanese wind glasses, the shakuhachi flute) and in this book, Lou Harrison writes of Cowell's "adventurous promotion of automobile junkyards for the finding of new sounds." In addition, Cowell was a tireless advocate of new music in the West, and Musics from other cultures worldwide, as a teacher, lecturer, publisher, and performer. He founded New Music Quarterly in 1927 and wrote the influential book New Musical Resources, as well as publishing music by contemporaries such as Ives, Varèese, Ruggles, Ruth Crawford Seeger and others. In this major book of articles and reminiscences, David Nicholls brings together for the first time a symposium dealing exclusively with Cowell and his work, providing a portrait of a composer who really engaged with "the whole world of music".
Keywords: Cowell, Henry -- 1897-1965; Music history; Composer