Postmortem PsychiatrynWhen Mr. John Belushi. the liberalnluliure’s iliirling loniedian. died of andrujj overdose, most ob.server.s saw iinsimply as ihe natural though patheticnend of a particularly glamorized life. Ms.nBette Miiller. a noted psychoanalyst, explainednin a recent interview that mattersnwere more complex:nI lielieve Jiihn w.n biisiially playing; ancharacier. . . . Ht- w-jMi’t iliar kiml ntnman at all. yei lie lurced IiirnseM in liviilialnliti->tylc bi-iause lie Tell ir wii.i ixpccu-dnnl him. ATKI ilicn hi- dicil oCii.nbrich said of Dadaism, its meaninglessnessnunavoidably takes on meaningn”from its reference to the idea of art itnderides.” We might call this phenomenonnthe rejection of meaning.nOne experimenter, a genuine one innthe sense that he attempts to explore anmeans to greater musical expression, isnLou Harrison. He is an American originalnin the tradition of Henry Cowell, withnwhom he studied. He also studied withnArnold Schoenberg but avoided beingndominated by his 12-tone method. Harrisonnhas used a wide variety of techniques,nincluding non-Western ones,nbut not because he has mistaken meansnfor ends. He is a man in search of anlanguage because he desires to communicate.nHe does not lose himself in ansearch for pure originality—although henhas achieved novel effects—nor does henindulge in “conceptual” art. His personalnmotto is “Cherish, Conserve, Consider,nCreate,” hardly the manifesto of anrevolutionary, although he is known asnan avant-gardist. He can also write melodiesnof disarming simplicity and beauty.nEven at its wildest, Harrison’s worknseems to spring from an acceptance ofnand a reflection on an a priori God-givennChronicles of CulturenLlBKKAL Cll/n RK 1n,1′:ni«nMHln’ ^1’n1 Sninmn11 -rf cil^ntnM fn\- iliaiaiKT kiilrii liini.niiAn%nVCe a.ssume Dr. Midler had Mr. Belushinon the couch longenoufjh ro come upnwith such a brillianv diagnosis.norder. This is explicit in his Mass to SaintnAnthony and other religious works.nThe results of Harrison’s most recentnefforts are available on Composers Recordingsn(CRI SD455): Three Pieces fornGamelan with Soloists (1978) and StringnQuartet Set (1979), both of which evincenthe non-Western influences on hisnmusic. The Quartet, accessible andnmelodious, sounds Middle Eastern and isnbased in part on medieval materials. It isnan intriguing and gentle work, if devoidnIn the Mailnof some of the drama of Western music.nIts fourth movement, the only one fullynharmonic in the European style, favorablynresembles Robert Simpson’s FirstnString Quartet. The gamelan, an Indonesiannfolk orchestra, is used with Frenchnhorn, flute, and viola in Three Pieces.nThe Oriental sounds are beguiling, butnthe simple melodies employed by thensoloists are a little too sweet. Harrisonnavoids the monotony of Oriental music,nbut longeurs occasionally creep in.nHarrison also contributed to a fascinatingndigital Nonesuch recordingn(D-79011) called The Waltz Project.nHere we have displayed in miniature thenfull range of modern compositional techniquesnturned to the waltz form by 17ncomposers including Sessions, Cage,nBabbitt, and Glass, as well as relativenunknowns. Nothing could seem furthernfrom the spirit of our age than the waltz,nso it must have been with a sense of ironynas well as humor that these short compositionsnwere commissioned. Harrisonnemerges best with his beautiful waltzlullabynthat offers no apologies. ZygmuntnKrauze gives us a gentle dreamlikenmemory of the waltz; Milton Babbitt’snpiece is full of blurps and blips; Sessions’snis clangorous; Cage’s work, thenlongest on the record, is merely nonsensicalnsounds that begin with subwaynnoises and go downhill from there;nVested Interests by Ralph A. Raimi; published by Ralph A. Raimi; Rochester, NY. Essayisticnperegrinations—factual and fictional—by a mathematician with a penchant for prose. Fornanyone who values subtle efforts.nAgenda ’83: A Mandate for Leadership Report edited by Richard N. Holwill; The HeritagenFoundation; Washington, DC. The first sentence in the Introduction states that “RonaldnReagan is a prisoner of his optimism.” This department-by-department examination shouldnburst his bubble.nCenter Journal; Center for Christian Studies; South Bend, IN. On the morality of nuclear wainand other teleological matters.nLiberation Theology in Latin America by James V. Schall, S.J.; Ignatius Press; San Francisco,nCA. According to Ft. Schall, Heaven is not Earth; liberation comes from Christ, not Marx.nnn