One of a handful of truly innovative 20th-century American composers, Lou Harrison spent much of his career employed outside of the music industry, having worked as a florist, clerk, fireman, and veterinary aide. His quest for new musical sounds led him to create the American gamelan . Patterned after the Javanese gamelans (an Indonesian ensemble of matched metallophones and drums), Harrison built his own instruments and composed numerous pieces specifically for the ensembles he...