Died: 3 September 1974 in San Diego, California, USA.
Harry Partch, one of the greatest and most individualistic composers of all time, was not only a great composer, but an innovative theorist who broke through the shackles of many centuries of one tuning system for all of Western music, a music instrument inventor who created dozens of incredible instruments for the performance of his music, and a musical dramatist who created his own texts and dance/theatre extravaganzas based on everything from Greek mythology to his own experiences as a hobo. Between 1930 and 1972, he created one of the most amazing bodies of sensually alluring and emotionally powerful music of the 20th century: music dramas, dance theater, multi-media extravaganzas, vocal music and chamber music---mostly all performed on the instruments he built himself.
The Harry Partch Collection Volume 1
1 Eleven Intrusions: Study on Olympos' Pentatonic
2 Eleven Intrusions: Study on Archytas' Enharmonic
3 Eleven Intrusions: The Rose
4 Eleven Intrusions: The Crane
5 Eleven Intrusions: The Waterfall
6 Eleven Intrusions: The Wind
7 Eleven Intrusions: The Street
8 Eleven Intrusions: Lover
9 Eleven Intrusions: Soldiers - War - Another War
10 Eleven Intrusions: Vanity
11 Eleven Intrusions: Cloud-Chamber Music
12 I. Castor & Pollux: Castor
13 I. Castor & Pollux: Pollux
14 II. Ring Around The Moon: Phase One
15 II. Ring Around The Moon: Phase Two
16 II. Ring Around The Moon: Phase Three
17 II. Ring Around The Moon: Phase Four
18 III. Even Wild Horses: Act I, Scene 1
19 III. Even Wild Horses: Act I, Scene 2
20 III. Even Wild Horses: Act I, Scene 3
21 III. Even Wild Horses: Act II, Scene 1
22 III. Even Wild Horses: Act II, Scene 2
23 III. Even Wild Horses: Act II, Scene 3
24 III. Even Wild Horses: Act III, Scene 1
25 III. Even Wild Horses: Act III, Scene 2
26 Ulysses At The Edge
Conductor - Horace Schwartz (tracks: 12-25)
Performers - Gate 5 Ensemble (Evanston) (tracks: 26) , Gate 5 Ensemble (Sausalito) (tracks: 12-25)
Principal Vocals - Harry Partch (tracks: 1-11)
Voice - Allan Louw (tracks: 18-25) , Lynn Ludlow (tracks: 14-17)
Notes
Tracks 1-11 recorded in 1950-51 in Gualala, California.
Tracks 12-25 recorded in 1953 in Sausalito, California.
Track 26 recorded in 1958 in Evanston, Illinois.
Recordings originally released on Gate 5 Records
The Harry Partch Collection Volume 2
The Wayward
1 I. U.S. Highball - A Musical Account Of A Transcontinental Hobo Trip (1943, Rev. 1955) 25:21
Conductor - Jack McKenzie
Performer [Gate 5 Ensemble (evanston, Illinois)] - Danlee Mitchell , David Reid , Dick Borden , Elizabeth Gentry , Harry Partch , Melvin Britton , Melvin Wildberger , Michael Colgrass , Thomas Coleman
2 II. San Francisco - A Setting Of The Cries Of Two Newsboys On A Foggy Night In The Twenties (1943, Rev. 1955) 2:29
Organ [Chromelodeon] - Elizabeth Gentry
Percussion [Kithara Ii] - Danlee Mitchell
Viola [Adapted], Vocals - Harry Partch
3 III. The Letter (1943, Rev. 1972) 2:48
Dulcimer [Harmonic Canon Iii] - Dennis Dunn
Percussion [New Kithara I], Percussion [Surrogate Kithara] - David Dunn
Percussion [Omicron Belly Drum] - Randy Hoffman
Performer - Ben Johnston , Betty Johnston , Donald Pippin
Vocals, Percussion [Omicron Belly Drum] - Harry Partch
4 IV. Barstow - Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions From A Highway Railing At Barstow, California (1941, Rev. 1968) 9:56
Performer [The Harry Partch Ensemble] - Alan Silverstein , Danlee Mitchell , Francis Thumm , Gary Irvine , Randy Hoffman , Ron Caruso
And On The Seventh Day Petals Fell In Petaluma (1963–64, Rev. 1966)
5 And On The Seventh Day Petals Fell In Petaluma (1963–64, Rev. 1966) 35:51
Performer [The Gate 5 Ensemble] - Danlee Mitchell , Emil Richards , Harry Partch , Michael Ranta , Stephen Tosh , Wallace Snow
Tracks 1 through 4 are parts of Partch's composition "The Wayward"
Tracks 1 & 2 recorded in 1958 in Evanston, Illinois
Track 3 recorded in 1972 in Encinitas and San Diego, California and contained "dubbed-in interludes" from a 1950 performance
Track 4 recorded live in 1982 at Mills College, Oakland, California
Track 5 recorded in 1964 in Petaluma, California and 1966 in Venice, California
The Harry Partch Collection Volume 3
1 The Dreamer That Remains - A Study In Loving (1972) 10:29
2 Windsong (1958) 11:36
3 Rotate The Body In All Its Planes - Ballad For Gymnasts (1961) 8:52
Water! Water! - An Intermission With Prologues And Epilogues (1961) (Excerpts Selected By The Composer)
4 The Opening Prologue, And The Second Prologue, In Which The Instruments Attack The Producer 2:59
5 Water Criers And Lead-In Lines, O What Could He Do But Pick Her Up? (Jazzmen) 4:04
6 Water Criers And Lead-In Lines, Witch For Water (Witches) / The Aldermen’s Fugue On No. Wanda The Water Witch (Jazzmen) 5:59
7 Santa Mystiana The Beautiful (Her Honor And Conductor) 2:39
8 Water Criers. Visitors From Strange And Foreign Places: The Singer From Spoleto, And An Alabama Mockingbird - Dear Old Alabama 2:02
9 We Really Love Each Other. In 43 Whines To The Octave (Aldermen, Ladies’ Auxiliary, Jazzmen, Witches) 1:41
10 Water Criers. The Baseball Game Is Called On Account Of Rain! 3:17
11 To Hell With The Game! Rain! Rain! The Highest Goodness Is Like Water (Whole Ensemble) 2:26
12 Opening Epilogue (After Three Days Of Rain). Ghosts, Undele, Oomph! / (The Indian Ghosts Dance Over Clarence’s Body And Play On Liquor Bottles) 2:56
13 Water Criers. Intervening Dialogue. We’ll Sue You For A Million! (Her Honor And Jazzmen) 3:03
14 Do-Lo-Do-Lo --- Doom! (Aldermen, Ladies, And Ghosts) / Phoebus Bids Farewell. The Indian Runners Bring News. The Final Song And Dance, Gone, Man, Gone! (Whole Ensemble). With The Descending Moan Of The Siren Phoebus Plunges Wildly Into Nothingness. 4:55
15 Eighth Epilogue - The Producer Finally Silences The Instruments. / Final Epilogue: “The Highest Goodness Is Like Water.” 1:48
Historic recordings supervised by the composer and first released on Gate 5 Records.
Booklet includes librettos, historic photos and new liner notes.
Recorded in 1972, San Diego, California (1), 1958, Chicago, Illinois (2), 1961, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois (3), 1962, Urbana, Illinois (4 to 15).
Total playing Time: 69:18
The Harry Partch Collection Volume 4:
The Bewitched, A Dance-Satire (1955) (74:43)
1 Prologue - The Lost Musicians Mix Magic 18:08
2 Scene 1 - Three Undergrads Become Transfigured In A Hong Kong Music Hall 5:30
3 Scene 2 - Exercises In Harmony And Counterpoint Are Tried In A Court Of Ancient Ritual 5:07
4 Scene 3 - The Romancing Of A Pathological Liar Comes To An Inspired End 5:33
5 Scene 4 - A Soul Tormented By Contemporary Music Finds A Humanizing Alchemy 5:39
6 Scene 5 - Visions Fill The Eyes Of A Defeated Basketball Team In The Shower Room 4:20
7 Scene 6 - Euphoria Descends A Sausalito Stairway 4:17
8 Scene 7 - Two Detectives On The Tail Of A Tricky Culprit Turn In Their Badges 5:32
9 Scene 8 - A Court In Its Own Contempt Rises To A Motherly Apotheosis 5:27
10 Scene 9 - A Lost Political Soul Finds Himself Among The Voteless Women Of Paradise 5:57
11 Scene 10 - The Cognoscenti Are Plunged Into A Demonic Descent While At Cocktails 9:18
This is a recording of the first performance of Harry Partch's dance-satire, which took place at the University of Illinois' Champaign-Urbana campus in 1957.
The performance featured musical instruments designed and built by the composer and played by above mentioned members of the University of Illinois Musical Ensemble.
℗ 1973 & © 1997 Composers Recordings, Inc.
This recording was originally released on Partch's own label, Gate 5, has been previously issued in 1990 on CRI as CD 7001, and was reissued in 2005 on New World Records as 80624-2.
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