Persian Set, no. 2 (Moderato)

Composer: COWELL, Henry
  • Persian Set (composed 1957) was inspired by a stay in Iran during a world tour taken by Henry & Sidney Cowell in 1956-7, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the US State Department.1
  • Cowell was very intentional about learning from nonwestern musical styles. 2 In 1955 he said he wanted “to live in the whole world of music.” 3
  • In 1997, Cowell was honored for his “contributions to intercultural music” in a speech by Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations.4

Sources

  1. David Nicholls and Joel Sachs, “Cowell, Henry” Grove Music Online (2013), acccesed August 27, 2019,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002249182.
  2. Dana Paul Perna, liner notes to Persian Set: Henry Cowell, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Richard Auldon Clark, KOCK3-7720-2, CD, 1992.
  3. Nicholls and Sachs, “Cowell, Henry” Grove Music Online .
  4. Ibid.

Cut IDs

17019