{TABLE} Three Dances ............ Andrew York Dreamscapes ............. Andrew York Serenade ................ Lou Harrison Sunburst ................ Andrew York Delineations ............ Andrew York Harp Suite .............. Lou Harrison {/TABLE} THANK you, Lou Harrison! Two pieces by this octogenarian Californian composer were among the better points of the recital given last Tuesday night by Jerry Creedon and Mel Mercier at the John Field Room. The rest of the programme was taken up by solo guitar music from Harrison's younger west coast contemporary, Andrew York.
York was born in 1958, but the music on this programme eschews anything more modern. than quasi tonal neo Classicism. It is soft centred touched more by American mood music than by the brittle textures of mainstream neo Classicism. To make any thing of this music one needs plenty of, rhythmic bite, and shortcomings in that area were a failing of Jerry Creedon's playing, despite his good range of tone and colour.
By comparison, Lou Harrison's Serenade and Harp Suite, both for guitar and percussion, were refreshing, and were more assertively performed. (For the latter, Creedon and Mercier were joined by Olga Barry and Conor Doherty.) The reliance of Harp Suite on minimalist techniques carried an air of aged hippy music but at least Harrison has sustainable ideas.
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