The Harry Partch Collection is a set of four individual CDs that were originally released by CRI in 1997 and reissued by New World Records in 2004. The dinner offered up on Volume 4 consists of only one course, but what a big and tasty treat it turned out to be! Titled “The Bewitched,” it combines singing, music, mime dance and theatrics into a corporeal whole influenced by the ritual performance traditions of Greece, Africa, Bali and China. “In spirit, if not wholly in content, it is a satyr-play. It is a seeking for release–through satire, whimsy, magic, ribaldry–from the catharsis of tragedy. It is an essay toward a miraculous abeyance of civilized rigidity, in the feeling that the modern spirit might thereby find some ancient and magical sense of rebirth.”–Harry Partch. The menu consists of a long prologue, a short epilogue and 10 scenes sandwiched in between. It’s kind of funny that the prologue–clocking in at 18 minutes–is longer than any of the main sections. Mostly comprised of percussion-heavy music like that found on “Castor and Pollux,” it’s highlighted by some dizzy Adapated Viola lines and solo growling vocals.

The 10 main scenes themselves bandy about a whole collection of insanely complex music that your mind will make a feeble attempt to devour. Pinging, boinging rhythms. A witch screaming “Yee-oh-wha!” Melodic forays contrasted with sour rhythms. Somber moods. Harmonic Canon chaos. Slow, stately rhythms punctuated by frenzied rhythmic pinging. Intense percussion workouts with wordless vocals. Homely melodies with sharp Diamond Marimba accents. The surprising appearance of a keening sax with lively percussion support, sour plucks, and more witchy singing. Shrill funeral dirges with droning that give way to dry plucks and military locksteps. Homely string plucks that segue into a somber graveyard that, in turn, gets killed by a sprightly horn melody. More loud, boisterous and heavy percussion joined by all of the other instruments. A climax with screams that quietly trails off. Then the epilogue finally arrives, with its percussion stomp whistle stops and starts, Cloud Chamber Bowl tolls and more animated percussion. Composed in 1956, recorded in 1957, originally released on Gate 5 vinyl in 1962 and reissued on a CRI LP a few years later, the music of “The Bewitched” still stands in the digital age as one of Harry Partch’s most challenging yet ultimately rewarding works.

Label: New World Records Catalog Number: 80624-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 12 Total Time: 75:43 Country: United States Released: 2005 More: American Mavericks, Harry Partch Information Center, Innova, Last.FM, Newband, Official, Wikipedia, Yale, YouTube

Text ©2010 Arcane Candy

The Harry Partch Collection is a set of four individual CDs that were originally released by CRI in 1997 and reissued by New World Records in 2004. Volume 3 presents four corporeal works for the stage that span from the 1950s to the 1970s, three of which were filmed. “The Dreamer That Remains” (1972) was the very last piece Partch composed before his death in 1974. The two-part work opens on a somber note as the performers intone the title numerous times and guide their clanging, cantankerous instruments through a myriad of patchwork quilts. The far more upbeat and quirky second section lyrically examines the sharp contrast between Partch’s carefree childhood and the overly law-filled “Do not loiter!” mentality of modern day society. Partch’s homosexuality is also touched upon, making this work a “coming out” of sorts. Instrumentally, the highlight arrives at the very end as a sublimely droning Harmonic Canon closes the piece with some stunning last strums. To the best of my knowledge, prior to this CD, “The Dreamer That Remains” was only available as a rare video.

“Rotate the Body in All Its Planes” (1961) is a highly rhythmic, rollicking, circus-like work that combines gymnastics with music and theater, an ancient practice that went out of vogue centuries ago. Musically, perhaps the most surprising aspect is the insistent rolls on a standard drum, which I’ve never noticed in any other Partch work. A funny black and white movie version of “Rotate” was shot by Madeline Tourtelot. Also filmed by her, “Windsong” is an 18-minute black and white meditation on the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo set in the desolate sand dunes of Lake Michigan. Musically, it flits back and forth between whole boatloads of subdued yet varied rhythmic percussion workouts that match the fast-cut, beautiful nature scenes from the film, and later mellows into some otherworldly Harmonic Canon territory. Partch re-visited this work a decade later and renamed it “Daphne of the Dunes.” All three of the aforementioned films are available on DVD from Innova.

Finishing this CD, “Water! Water!” presents excerpts from an evening-long farce that poke fun at the classical concert phenomenon of the intermission, when relieved audience members storm out of the theater for some much needed thirst-quenching, socializing and escape from the tedium of the performance. The story takes place in the fictional town of Santa Mystiana, where the progressive battle the regresssive for control of the local dam. Musically, the work ranges from sleepy and somber to loud and boisterous, complete with the absurd outbursts of silliness typical of a staged, popular musical. If you want to know what a less microtonal slightly more pop Harry Partch would sound like on Broadway, start here. On the vinyl front, “Water! Water!” is quite possibly the rarest Gate 5 LP, because Partch, who was unhappy that the piece as a whole was uncompleted, withdrew it after less than a year.

Label: New World Records Catalog Number: 80623-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 15 Total Time: 68:45 Country: United States Released: 2005 More: American Mavericks, Harry Partch Information Center, Innova, Last.FM, Newband, Official, Wikipedia, Yale, YouTube

Text ©2010 Arcane Candy

The Harry Partch Collection is a set of four individual CDs that were originally released by CRI in 1997 and reissued by New World Records in 2004. Volume 2 features two works, the first of which, The Wayward, takes Partch’s speech-music experiments of the 1940s and ’50s to a whole new level; and the second, And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma, which set a new high water mark for his instrumental writing in the 1960s.

The Wayward is a collection of four works that chronicle the trials and tribulations of hobo life that Harry Partch experienced during the Great Depression era of the 1930s. Composed in 1943 and revised in 1955, the first, “U.S. Highball,” is one of my favorite Partch pieces of all time. A perfect merger of avant garde music and pure Americana, this epic, 25-minute musical roller coaster recounts an actual cross-country railroad trip Partch himself made from San Francisco to Chicago. A prelude that introduces each of Harry’s microtonal plectra and percussion instruments is, in and of itself, simply astonishing and exotic-sounding as all get-out. Then comes the work proper, in which various notes that Partch jotted down during the trip are brought to vivid life: hilarious snippets of graffiti, overheard conversations, flop house signs, railroad speak and town / state names distorted by whimsy (“Leaving Colfax, Califor-nee-ax!” and “Leaving Council Bluffs, I-o-wuffs!” for example). Just the mere thought of this piece makes me smile and laugh. It’s a wild, jarring, forward-rolling-with-occasional-melancholy-moments masterpiece that will charm your head off if you give it half a chance. Crazily enough, a 1958 performance was even filmed and is available on DVD!

As a reprieve from the rollicking “U.S. Highball,” a short, droning, cloud o’ melancholy known as “San Francisco,” which was composed in 1943 and revised in 1955, presents to the attentive listener one of Partch’s strangest, wooziest dreams that recounts the cries of newsboys at a street corner on a fog-filled night in the 1920s. Then the composer reads “The Letter,” which was composed in 1943 and revised in 1972, written by a hobo pal named Pablo in Cincinnati, Ohio in the middle of the great depression in 1935. “Barstow,” which was composed in 1941 and revised in 1968, buttons up The Wayward with a set of eight inscriptions from a highway railing in Barstow, California that Partch jotted down in 1940 and set to music. This work is a perfect example of speech music in which the instruments mimic the sound of the vocal inflections. The most memorable line: “Go to 530 East Lemon Avenue in Monrovia for an easy handout, gentlemen.”

Moving on into the 1960s, we encounter And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma, a longform, 35-minute piece that represents the apex of Partch’s instrumental efforts. Composed between 1964 and ‘66, it takes rhythmic complexity through the roof–especially in some of the later verses, when an array of ultra-complex polymetric rhythms invade your head like a dozen different musical viruses. This work is also a showcase for all of the composer’s 22 instruments, six of which were built since 1960, as well as a study for his masterwork, Delusion of the Fury. Professionally recorded–the instruments ring through loud and clear–and released on CRI, Petals was the first Partch work to enjoy a wide release on a commercial label. It’s also worth noting that LP brandished what is is merely one of the most attractive album covers of all time.

Label: New World Records Catalog Number: 80622-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 5 Total Time: 76:23 Country: United States Released: 2004 More: American Mavericks, Harry Partch Information Center, Innova, Last.FM, Newband, Official, Wikipedia, Yale, YouTube

Text ©2010 Arcane Candy

Harry Partch (1901-1974) merely succeeded in realizing the most perfectly constructed, personal musical universe of the 20th Century. Shunning twelve-tone equal temperament—which has dominated Western music for well over a hundred years—he formed his own 43 tone scale realized through an antiquated pure tuning system known as Just Intonation. Harry then built his own strange, sculptural instruments to realize his exotic scores. Over several decades, he meshed this otherworldly-sounding music with dance and drama into what he called “corporeal” presentations, in which these three elements are fully integrated into a powerful, transporting whole. None of them were omitted or relegated to the background, as in traditional stage plays or classical concerts.

The Harry Partch Collection is a set of four individual CDs that were originally released by CRI in the mid-1990s and reissued by New World Records in 2004. Volume 1 features three works that document a time period in the 1950s when Partch was moving away from his early speech-music phase to a more percussive-based sound. Dating from 1949-50, the Eleven Intrusions are a collection of very quiet, sparse works for instruments and intoning voice. Along with “U.S. Highball,” they are my favorite Partch music with vocals. The first Intrusion, “Study on Olympos’ Pentatonic,” employs the Harmonic Canon and Bass Marimba to usher forth a microtonal yet oriental feel. “Study on Archytas’ Enharmonic” is similar, but more subdued and somber. Both pieces are atypically simple for a Partch composition. “The Rose” and “The Crane” offer up some odd microtonal glissandos via the Adapted Guitar II as the Diamond Marimba makes an appearance and Harry intones some really forlorn poetry.

“The Waterfall” produces a slightly more upbeat mood, while “The Wind” brings it back down with a dissonant outburst: “I am the lonely wind of night. I am the spent sea’s bitter foam. I am drifted about as on the sea. I am carried by the wind as if I had nowhere to go.” True to its name, “The Street” describes somber street scenes: “Down Maxwell Street where the prostitutes stand in the gloom.” “Lover,” “Soldiers–War–Another War” and “Vanity” bust out with some fancy Diamond Marimba and Adapted Guitar slide work, and introduce the Cloud Chamber Bowls, which get another lively workout to produce an otherworldly percussion effect on “Cloud Chamber Music.” Finally, the The Adapted Viola, Adapted Guitar and Diamond Marimba end the cycle with a woozy lament. When listened to as a whole, the Eleven Intrusions easily contain some of the most melancholy music ever committed to tape. They were originally released on a set of five 78 rpm records that are so rare, I’ve seen ‘em appear on eBay only once in the past 10 years. (They sold for the tidy sum of $1,500.)

Hailing from 1952, Plectra and Percussion Dances is a lengthy, near hour-long work in three parts. “Castor and Pollux” opens up this can of worms with Harry’s first-ever instrumental piece. “Castor” displays a complex dissonance, while “Pollux” is much more catchy and propulsive. “Ring Around the Moon” is “a satire on the world of singers and singing, music and dance; on concerts and concert audiences.” Brandishing a pastiche of funny, nonsense phrases all strung together, it’s pretty wacky and all over the place. With its difficult, meandering atmosphere, “Even Wild Horses” is very tough to get into. This piece can challenge even the most hardened Harry Partch fanatic, which is a perfect way to end Plectra and Percussion Dances. This work was originally issued as a trust fund edition in the early 1950s and got reissued several times with different artwork in subsequent years on Harry’s own Gate 5 label. 1955’s “Ulysses at the Edge” closes up the this CD by combining regular instruments like sax with Partch’s, which is really unusual and funny to hear. The Boo and Diamond Marimba really get a workout on this track.

Label: New World Records Catalog Number: 80621-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 26 Total Time: 74:05 Country: United States Released: 2004 More: American Mavericks, Harry Partch Information Center, Innova, Last.FM, Newband, Official, Wikipedia, Yale, YouTube

Text ©2010 Arcane Candy

Harry Partch (1901-1974) merely succeeded in realizing the most perfectly constructed, personal musical universe of the 20th Century. Shunning twelve-tone equal temperament—which has dominated Western music for well over a hundred years—he formed his own 43 tone scale realized through an antiquated pure tuning system known as Just Intonation. Harry then built his own strange, sculptural instruments to realize his exotic scores. Over several decades, he meshed this otherworldly-sounding music with dance and drama into what he called “corporeal” presentations, in which these three elements are fully integrated into a powerful, transporting whole. None of them were omitted or relegated to the background, as in traditional stage plays or classical concerts.

“Delusion Of The Fury is the composition that Partch crafted most carefully as a corporeal, or total-theater work. It was his last large piece, and it summed up all of his dreams that such a work could bring to bear on the stage. In it the musicians and dancers form a truly integrated ensemble of stage craft, costuming, sound, movement and ritual.” Finally, here’s a CD reissue of the 3-LP box set that came out on Columbia in the early ’70s, minus the disc of spoken / played introductions to Harry Partch’s instruments. (If I were the boss, I would’ve expanded this release to a 2-CD set and included it.)

A grip of new photos, art and liner notes makes up for that, though, and this co-release with Sony Music Special Products pretty much stands as the final document of Partch’s recorded legacy to be released on CD, so now almost all of his music is currently available. (Check out the rest of the Enclosures series on Innova, the four CDs on New World Records and The Lyrics Of Li Po on Tzadik for the rest of the story.) Apparently, this is a remastered version—probably from original tapes—and sounds quite clear with a bit of audible hiss. It’s great that the average person once again has the chance to easily bask within one of Partch’s most fully-realized, mature works featuring his microtonal percussion, stringed and adapted instruments–all of which also function beautifully as sculpture. This re-issue is definitely a much-needed winner all the way around.

Label: Innova Catalog Number: 406 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 14 Total Time: 72:02 Country: United States Released: 1999 More: American Mavericks, Corporeal Meadows, Discogs, Forced Exposure, Last FM, Microtonal Synthesis, Newband, Harry Partch, Wikipedia, YouTube

Text ©2009 Arcane Candy

Los Angeles, California
May 29, 2009

Harry Partch (1901-1974) merely succeeded in realizing the most perfectly constructed, personal musical universe of the 20th Century. Shunning 12-tone equal temperament—which has dominated Western music for well over 100 years—he formed his own 43 tone scale realized through an antiquated pure tuning system known as Just Intonation. Harry then built his own strange, sculptural instruments to realize his exotic scores. Over several decades, he meshed this otherworldly-sounding music with dance and drama into what he called “corporeal” presentations, in which these three elements are fully integrated into a powerful, transporting whole. None of them were omitted or relegated to the background, as in traditional stage plays, classical concerts, etc.

Near the end of May 2009, the Partch ensemble, who formed in 1991 to play the music of Harry Partch, played their sixth annual show at the REDCAT. It was divided into two sections, Dark and Light, with an intermission. Dark appropriately featured the Eleven Intrusions from 1950, a set of 11 short, very somber and forlorn pieces—most featuring intoning voice accompanied by only two or three instruments—punctuated by one weird and wild work for four accapella voices. Next up was Harry’s 1958 film Windsong, an 18-minute black and white meditation on the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo set in the desolate sand dunes of Lake Michigan.

After the rather muted audio of Windsong, it was a bit shocking to hear the full frequency range of the live Partch instruments again as part two, Light, got underway after the intermission. True to its name, this half of the show featured some lighter fare, such as Yankee Doodle Fantasy, a parody on patriotism, James Joyce, club women and even Harry’s own 43 tones to the octave scale. Other songs in this vein included O Frabjous Day!, with text by Lewis Carroll, and Isobel and Annah the Allmaziful, featuring an excerpt of text from James Joyce’s lengthy and dense Finnegan’s Wake.

All of the above pieces were sprinkled with a generous amount of dimly-lit hues that recalled part one, including lone wolf gems like Dark Brother, The Letter, and Barstow: Eight Hitchhikers Inscriptions From a Highway Railing, which set to music a selection of sometimes funny, sometimes sad Great Depression-era graffiti in which a ragtag crew of guys and dolls advertise for a mate. Overall, compared to the more upbeat pieces of previous years, Dark / Light was largely a more subdued beast. But, that’s fine by me. I love to experience the full spectrum of emotional performance, and, as always, the Partch ensemble nailed it. Look for a full gallery from this concert coming later. Until then, view more Harry Partch articles and photos here at Arcane Candy.

Text and photos ©2009 Arcane Candy.

This is the full gallery to accompany the original Partch at the REDCAT 2008 article.

Photos enlarge.

Note: If you want to use any of these photos for anything on or off the web, please email first. Thanks!

Text and photos ©2008 Arcane Candy.

This is the full gallery to accompany the original Partch at California Plaza article.

Photos enlarge.

Note: If you want to use any of these photos for anything on or off the web, please email first. Thanks!

Text and photos ©2007 Arcane Candy.

This is the full gallery to accompany the original Partch at the REDCAT 2007 article.

Photos enlarge.

Note: If you want to use any of these photos for anything on or off the web, please email first. Thanks!

Text and photos ©2007 Arcane Candy.

Los Angeles, California
May 31, 2008

Harry Partch (1901-1974) merely succeeded in realizing the most perfectly constructed, personal musical universe of the 20th Century. Shunning twelve-tone equal temperament—which has dominated Western music for well over a hundred years—he formed his own 43 tone scale realized through an antiquated pure tuning system known as Just Intonation. Harry then built his own strange, sculptural instruments to realize his exotic scores. Over several decades, he meshed this otherworldly-sounding music with dance and drama into what he called “corporeal” presentations, in which these three elements are fully integrated into a powerful, transporting whole. None of them were omitted or relegated to the background, as in traditional stage plays, classical concerts, etc.

Let’s see you shred some hammer-ons with this beauty, pal.

On the last day of May 2008, the Partch ensemble, who formed in 1991 to play the music of Harry Partch, played their fifth annual show at the REDCAT, featuring a major percussion work called Plectra and Percussion Dances, a longform piece divided up into three parts. The first, Castor and Pollux, was an upbeat percussion-heavy workout that flipped the pessimistic tone of Oedipus, which was composed right before it. Next, the band blazed on through the concert satire Ring Around the Moon, then offered up some highly altered Afro-American and Latin American-influenced rhythms during Even Wild Horses.

Not exactly your average, everyday drum circle down at the beach.

Joining in all the fun this year was none other than harpist extraordinaire Rebekah Raff, who womanhandled one of the Harmonic Canons with arm-lashing aplomb. Some of you may remember Rebekah from the cover of Arcane Candy issue number two. If you were just born yesterday, however, you might not. As always, the Partch ensemble wowed the crowd into a standing ovation. The only bummer of the evening was when one of the REDCAT staff made me stop taking photos during the first break. It’s not like I was popping off flashes or anything, dude! Despite that, look for a full gallery from this concert coming soon.

Also read Partch at the REDCAT 2007 and Partch at California Plaza.