Harry Partch : Classic or Dud?

the new world label have issued some 4 CDs worth of archive recordings (orig on CRI, but they went under last year) (got one for 9.99). Then there's '17 lyrics for li-po' on tzadik: documents his setting of ancient chinese poetry to prepared violin. On both, there's a 'seasick' feeling to a lot of it, but that wears off if you stick to it. his world is v wonky eyed.

I'm still investigating...

Tomorrow, Harry Partch's "Oedipus" is being performed in Jersey. Wish I could afford to get out there and see it. But I can't. Someone go and tell me about it.

then a friend played me Delusion of the Fury and everything made furious sense, an over the top masterpiece, now I love everything by him I hear.

It's an expensively produced large book, with facsimiles of his working notes/scraps and doodles and so on.

Guess no-one wants to sell unless big bucks are involved. That's art for you.

I reserve the right to change my mind completely the next time I listen to some though.

I have the Enclosure Two which is the 3CD set. It's got some weird stuff on it - and I'm not talking about Partch's music. But for instance one whole disc is basically just an ambient recording of people talking at Harry's wake. WTF? But the music that is on there is probably worth the cost of admission. "Barstow" is one of my favorites. I also have the Li Po disc on Tzadik, which is great. I went to see a performance of some of that material once by the singer and the violinist guy who play on the Tzadik disc - it was put on as part of a Zorn month at Tonic. It was kind of disappointing though because they had only rehearsed a few of the pieces - so they only had enough material to play for about 15 minutes. They told the audience that Zorn had said that would be enough, and if we wanted to hear more, they would play the songs again (!). Thanks, John. :-(

been listening to 'delusions of a fury' and the reissue of 'bewitched' and, if I were to make the comparison to other theater works and their transition to disc, I'd say that I wouldn't mind if I ever saw those works on the live stage - Al gran sole carico c'amore (nono) or the sonquest of mexico (rihm) - the emotional points are quite easy to follow even if story/subject are obscure in themselves! but that's not the case with partch. there's also this primitivist aesthetic that he's pushing, like his version of ancient greek music, or maybe pagan* like music, and he's so um relentless with it that finding a way in is hard. the serenity in some 'the bewitched' was quite nice though.

* = 'the wicker man' is all i know of paganism, maybe start playing when the sun starts to set.

I found the frank denyer disc so much easier to get into

Did I pick the wrong thing?

Would it have been better if I'd started with "Delusion Of The Fury" maybe?

Enclosure 7 DVD, including the complete Delusion of the Fury performed live, a 1972 documentary, and the instrument demo album from the original Delusion LP box that was left off the CD version

I really dislike the Li Po disc on Tzadik, my introduction to that material was through Partch's originals (on Enclosure Two and Eleven Intrusions, I think) and hearing anybody else play that stuff just seems wrong. this may tie in to the ambivalence somebody expressed about seeing a contemporary performance back there upthread. I haven't heard any "new" versions of his work that moved me the same way his unique voice does.

anyone in doubt about his work should check out the track "The Dreamer That Remains", available on those CRI collections.

ah

An article about the recorded works in the latest Wire. Haven't read it yet.

delusion of the furies is pretty fun. proto-rock improv ramshackliness with creepy operatic vocals

delusion of the furies is in production at the japan society in NYC this month, right? i would like to go, and i think thereza was thinking of it too. but i doubt i'll be able to find a time when it's convenient in terms of holiday travel, work, not to mention the ticket itself (only $50, but you know..)

I really dislike the Li Po disc on Tzadik, my introduction to that material was through Partch's originals (on Enclosure Two and Eleven Intrusions, I think) and hearing anybody else play that stuff just seems wrong.

I've heard other Partch fans say this as well - that hearing a trained singer do the pieces just doesn't fit with Partch's whole "smash the classical establishment" thing - and I'll admit there's a certain charm to hearing them sung by Partch himself, in his unmistakably untrained, twangy voice. But I don't think it's necessary to take sides, so I'm happy to enjoy both versions.

Complete Beeb doc on Youtube:

nice, thanks!

BLimey, will have to check that out later.

Cheers!

fuck yeah

anybody heard these? I have the single CD excerpt of "Bitter Music" that is on the Enclosure Two box, but have never heard "Plectra & Percussion Dances" other than the 15:38 Castor & Pollux that was on one of the old CRI comps.

PARTCH, HARRY: Bitter Music (Music of Harry Partch Vol. 1) 3CD (BRIDGE 9349CD)
2011 release. "It is an astonishing gift of fate when a creative artist, known to the world for a particular achievement, is suddenly shown in a quite different light thanks to the existence of a single document that has somehow escaped the ruthless culling mechanisms of time. Harry Partch's Bitter Music is such a document, a 'diary of eight months spent in transient shelters and camps, hobo jungles, basement rooms, and on the open road'. This long-lost journal of Harry Partch's wanderings during the Great Depression (from cleaning sewers to having tea with Irish poet W. B. Yeats) is an extraordinary musical portrait of an American pioneer, chronicling his occasionally hilarious and often heartbreaking struggles to forge a new music system outside the classical tradition. This premiere recording of Bitter Music takes the form of readings and collected musical fragments- an aural diary of what was going through Partch's mind and ear during a critical period in his artistic development."

PARTCH, HARRY: Plectra and Percussion Dances CD (BRIDGE 9432CD)
"This new recording marks the first complete performance of Harry Partch's major cycle in three parts, Plectra and Percussion Dances. On the original 1953 recording, 'Castor & Pollux' was missing three movements, and the finale, 'Even Wild Horses,' was missing its tenor saxophone part. The virtuosi of Partch give us revelatory interpretations of these stunningly original scores. Also included is a 7 minute spoken introduction, given by the composer in 1953 on the occasion of the broadcast premiere of this work."

bump for work week

Is there a good Partch biography out there?

good q - looks like this is the only one other than the Enclosure 3 book

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Partch-Biography-Bob-Gilmore/dp/0300065213

also found a profile article here:

http://marcjwolf.com/articles/harry-partch-america-s-first-microtonal-composer/

Thanks. Put that book on hold at the library.