Good lighting is important to the enjoyment of a home and poor lighting can be difficult to correct after ceilings and walls are closed.

It is no easier to change lamps at 18' in track versus recessed. Track lighting is not cool at the moment unless you are talking something like Tech and that may not work with a casual beach house. With slope ceiling recessed fixtures you can use a lamp changer on a pole to reach.

For you to take on the job of lighting designer and be happy with the results you need to get to the library and study or hire one. I think you have too many options and need some hand holding for that non typical space and use.

You definitely should use a layered lighting approach. By that I mean that you need to consider ambient, accent, and task lighting.

There is not any one light fixture that will give you the ideal solution, but a good general fixture to start with is a hanging indirect pendant. I would consider at least 2 for your room. This will give you up-lighting for the ceiling, as well as defused ambient light. You can get them with fluorescent bulbs which have 5 times the life as incandescent bulbs. Lighting the ceiling will tend to expand the volume of the room. Other fluorescent recessed cans may add to the fill-in ambient light, though with such a high ceiling, you will probably need a good number of them. For accent, or possibly even task lighting, consider using recessed halogen PAR lamps (narrow beam). These can supplement your floor and table lamps. With these lamps, you want to angle the light (no greater than 30 deg) to avoid harsh downcast shadows.

There are many variables to consider when lighting a room. The room color and surfaces, whether the ceiling is sloped, the activities in the room. A good reference is the book "Residential Lighting", by Randall Whitehead. Also, peruse around the Lightolier and JunoLighting websites. They both have a wealth of information in their catalogs.

Good Luck