Lou Harrison, The Louisville Orchestra, Robert Whitney

This disc brings back two works by Lou Harrison that The Louisville Orchestra premiered and then recorded in mono under Robert Whitney, at a time when the orchestra was commissioning and recording new works. The Strict Songs of 1955, a Louisville commission for eight baritones and orchestra, were begun at Black Mountain College and finished in California. Harrison wrote his own texts, four hymns celebrating holiness, nourishment, tenderness and splendour, and gave each of the four pentatonic sets its own just-intonation tuning by retuning the harp and piano. The Suite for Symphonic Strings, dated 1936 and revised in 1960, was first played in Louisville in 1960.

The Strict Songs were recorded on February 12, 1956 at the Columbia Auditorium in Louisville, a few weeks after their premiere on January 18, and issued in 1958 on the orchestra's LP LOU-582. Singers from the Choir of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, prepared by Walter O. Dahlin, take the baritone parts, with Davis Bingham as soloist. The four songs, Here Is Holiness, Here Is Nourishment, Here Is Tenderness and Here Is Splendor, run about sixteen minutes, the first of them close to seven. The Suite was taped on November 21, 1961 at the Macauley Theater and first issued on LOU-621, with Howard H. Scott as supervising producer. Its nine movements last about thirty-two minutes. They pass from an Estampie through a Double Fugue in honour of Heracles, a Ductia for Eros, a Lament and Canonic Variations for Apollo. A Little Fugue subtitled Violas' Reward and a Round for Hermes lead to a closing Nocturne.

CD on First Edition Music, catalogue number FECD-0014, from 2003, mastered by Peter Gordon from the original mono masters with transfers by Matthew Walters and notes by James M. Keller and Harrison.