From: mclaren
Subject: Innova Partch 4-CD release
--
One correspondent mentioned s/he hadn't heard
of the Innova Records Partch release.
This is arguably the most important collection of
Partch compositions yet released on CD. The
collection includes 4 74+-minute CDs, an
Partch compositions yet released on CD. The
collection includes 4 74+-minute CDs, an
elaborate and informative booklet complete
the text of several Partch manuscripts not
reprinted since the 1940s, and some fascinating
archival photos.
Included are:
By the Rivers of Babylon
Ten Li Po Lyrics
Barstow (1942 version)
San Francisco - Newsboy Cries
While my Heart Keeps Beating Time (the only
survivng Partch pop song from the 1930s!)
Two Settings from Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake"
Dark Brother
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and
Intonations
Warren Burt's almost-complete performance
of "Bitter Music"
Warren Burt's almost-complete performance
of "Bitter Music"
Yankee Doodle Fantasy--On the Words of an
Early American Tune
O Frajous Day!
Ring Around the Moon
and Bless This House.
Apparently the Minnesota Composers Forum
collaborated with Dr. Philip Blackburn to
explore the Partch archives and extract many
early and all-but-unavailable recordings.
Some of these recordings were released
originally in 1950 on a 78 r.p.m. limited-
release record.
However, the most important part (to these
old ears) of this collection is the Quarter-Saw
Section, a full 60-minute stereo tape
worked up and re-worked by Partch for
a presentation to a meeting of the American
worked up and re-worked by Partch for
a presentation to a meeting of the American
Society of Composers in 1967. The tape wasn't
ready on time and as a result no one has heard
this seminal document for 30 years. Only a tiny
fragment of the 60-minute total is published
in "Bitter Music;" the vast bulk of the material,
replete with Harry's explanations of his harmonic
and melodic practices, the resources of Monophony,
why his system was never limited to 43 just tones,
and so on, is entirely new. This is the most
astonishingly complete document of Partch's
musical system and compositional practices extant.
It far exceeds in detail and in breadth either the
1933 "Exposition of Monophony," the 1942 "Resume
of the Musical Philosophy and Work of Harry Partch,"
the 1947 "Genesis of A Music," or the 1974 "Genesis
of a Music."
This collection is a breakthrough in Partch scholarship
of a Music."
This collection is a breakthrough in Partch scholarship
because it gives audible and visual access to current
generations of Partch fans and scholars materials long
since unavailable.
The audio quality ranges from superb (the reel tape of
"Quarter-Saw Section") to atrocious (DAT copies of
original 78 r.p.m. records, which were clearly either
recorded at the wrong speed or are played back at the
wrong speed--they are obviously a semitone too high in
pitch, or, if you prefer, about 5% too fast).
Does this matter?
Not if you're a Partch fan. The collection is a must-have.
Oddly enough, this 4-CD set showed up in the record bin
at a large Tower Records "A" store. The list price is
about a hundred bucks, but Tower had it for $67.00--
a real bargain.
The chances are good that any sufficiently large record
store with carry or can order this Innova 4-CD
The chances are good that any sufficiently large record
store with carry or can order this Innova 4-CD
collection for you.
It's a "must have."
--mclaren
