Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
This video is provided for educational use only; please email me at pranav.sivakumar@berkeley.edu regarding any copyright issues.
00:06 I. Ostinatos
06:23 II. Nocturne
11:21 III. Finale
Esprit Orchestra conducted by Alex Pauk
Colin McPhee (1900-1964) was a Canadian-American composer. After studies with Gustav Strube at the Peabody Institute and later with Edgard Varèse, he moved to Bali in 1931 with his then-wife, the archaeologist Jane Belo (McPhee was gay, and they later divorced.) While in Bali, McPhee extensively studied the island's gamelan tradition, which he brought into many of his works from that time; his oeuvre represents one of the first ethnomusicological attempts to incorporate a non-Western musical tradition into Western art music. In the following decade, he lived with the likes of W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten in Brooklyn and introduced Britten to Balinese gamelan, which the latter would take inspiration from in his score for "The Prince and the Pagodas".
"Tabuh-Tabuhan", written in 1936, is McPhee's best-known work; the title translates to "collection of percussion instruments". It brings together authentic Balinese melodies with the sound of the Western orchestra, augmented by a few Balinese percussion instruments (gongs and cymbals) and a "nuclear gamelan" of two pianos, celesta, xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel. "Tabuh-Tabuhan" is very well constructed and orchestrated, but what fascinates me most is how far ahead of its time the piece was; I don't know the extent to which the American minimalists were familiar with his work, but their music - written decades later - surely owes McPhee a large debt.
Happy Pride month! :)
This video is provided for educational use only; please email me at pranav.sivakumar@berkeley.edu regarding any copyright issues.
00:06 I. Ostinatos
06:23 II. Nocturne
11:21 III. Finale
Esprit Orchestra conducted by Alex Pauk
Colin McPhee (1900-1964) was a Canadian-American composer. After studies with Gustav Strube at the Peabody Institute and later with Edgard Varèse, he moved to Bali in 1931 with his then-wife, the archaeologist Jane Belo (McPhee was gay, and they later divorced.) While in Bali, McPhee extensively studied the island's gamelan tradition, which he brought into many of his works from that time; his oeuvre represents one of the first ethnomusicological attempts to incorporate a non-Western musical tradition into Western art music. In the following decade, he lived with the likes of W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten in Brooklyn and introduced Britten to Balinese gamelan, which the latter would take inspiration from in his score for "The Prince and the Pagodas".
"Tabuh-Tabuhan", written in 1936, is McPhee's best-known work; the title translates to "collection of percussion instruments". It brings together authentic Balinese melodies with the sound of the Western orchestra, augmented by a few Balinese percussion instruments (gongs and cymbals) and a "nuclear gamelan" of two pianos, celesta, xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel. "Tabuh-Tabuhan" is very well constructed and orchestrated, but what fascinates me most is how far ahead of its time the piece was; I don't know the extent to which the American minimalists were familiar with his work, but their music - written decades later - surely owes McPhee a large debt.
Happy Pride month! :)
