Recreation of a instrument designed by Harry Partch in 1938
Videos with Kithara
-
Three Dances (1952) by Harry Partch
Notes
1. Samba—A DECENT AND HONORABLE MISTAKE
2. Heartbeat Rhythm—RHYTHM OF THE WOMB–MELODY OF THE GRAVE
3. Afro-Chinese Minuet—HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!We begin this evening’s concert with the Three Dances that begin the third section of Partch’s Plectra & Percussion Dances (1952). The composer warned, “It’s an amazing fact that the world of dance music, and of Latin American dance music particularly, has produced an army of purists that is equal of anything that serious classical music can offer. I say this in order to advise you that the first scene, for example, “A Decent and Honorable Mistake,” may not be recognizable to you as a samba. The second scene, “Rhythm of the Womb, Melody of the Grave,” is based on a rhythmically contrapuntal heartbeat. The third scene, “Happy Birthday to You!” begins with an African-sounding marimba and somehow gets involved with a Chinese- sounding guitar in a pentatonic melody, and so I call it an Afro-Chinese Minuet.” This last dance ends with these directions: “Slowly enough that canon TRIADS are distinct,” after which they are to be played “faster than the previous runs so that the triads are NOT distinct.” The harmonies of each of those descending triads are wildly divergent, as if the composer is pausing to reminisce about various years past, but finally admits that as a 51-year old they are, in fact, a blur.
Partch Instruments:
Adapted Guitar III, Adapted Viola, Bass Marimba, Chromelodeon, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Diamond Marimba, Harmonic Canon, Kithara, Marimba EroicaAdditional Instruments:
Percussion -
Progressions (live at at REDCAT, June 2024)
Notes
Performed by PARTCH Ensemble at REDCAT, June 2024
Progressions
- Intro + Progressions Within One Octave (1942)
- Sonata Dementia: Abstraction & Delusion (1949)
In 1942, Harry Partch gave a lecture-demonstration at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. After introducing the now famous 43-note/octave scale on his newly created Chromolodian (sic), he proceeded to submerse the students in an extraordinary ear-bending sequence of chord Progressions Within One Octave that even today are capable of jarring the most seasoned Modernist sensibilities. Apologizing in advance that these auditory experiments, “…afford a little vision into a new world of musical resources—hardly more than a glimpse through a keyhole,” they turned out to be a peek into the future, as this music would soon become the opening of his Sonata Dementia (1949), exquisitely orchestrated with the addition of six newly built instruments. This performance was made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
This performance was also made possible in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.
Partch Instruments:
Adapted Guitar II, Chromelodeon, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Diamond Marimba, Harmonic Canon, Kithara, Marimba EroicaAdditional Instruments:
Voice -
PARTCH Ensemble and Del Sol Quartet premiere “One-Footed” by Taylor Brook
Notes
Live at REDCAT Theater in Los Angeles on June 17, 2022.
Program note by Taylor Brook:
The title of this work refers to a fascinating chart in Harry Partch’s Genesis of a Music: “The One-footed Bride.” Resembling the outline of a foot, this chart marks out just intervals and their inversions along either side of a central axis. In this chart, one finds diatonic interval regions associated with expressive qualities; seconds and sevenths with “approach,” thirds and sixths with “emotion,” perfect fourths and fifths with “power,” and the tritone region with “suspense.” While highly subjective, there’s a certain intuitive sense to these pairings. Even more fascinating for me was how Partch fits his 43-note scale into a diatonic structure. What this suggests is that we might understand the many intervals of Partch’s scale as shadings within each region. This became the foundation of my piece, One-footed: an exploration of the expressive potential of thinking about pitch and interval in this way. The instrumentation for One-footed combines a string quartet with many of Partch’s famous instruments. As a composer writing in 2021 I enjoy the legacy of composers like Partch and Ben Johnston, where performers like the Del Sol Quartet now deeply understand just intonation, and I see the PARTCH ENSEMBLE as a whole new type of orchestra that can finally be bridged to as a result. One-footed was written for the combined forces of Del Sol Quartet and PARTCH Ensemble in 2020-2021.
This performance was made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
We also acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Partch Instruments:
Adapted Guitar, Adapted Guitar II, Bass Marimba, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Diamond Marimba, Harmonic Canon, Kithara, Spoils of War, Surrogate Kithara -
Over the Edge of the World (remote presentation)
Notes
Live at REDCAT, June 4-5, 2021
Over the Edge of the World is a response to Partch’s own Ulysses at the Edge of the World, which i had been performing with the PARTCH ensemble several times. It poses the questions: what if Ulysses actually did go over the edge of the world? What would he have found there? At the moment the edge of the world is being researched in string theory and seems to lead into 11 dimensions. But how does traveling in 11 dimensions feel? On a technical side: the piece uses an 11-limit C-minor scale. Each of the three instruments follow its own structure, being a subset of the overall structure of the piece, using a slightly different version of this C-minor scale.
-
Castor and Pollux (remote presentation with choreography by Sarah Swenson)
Notes
World premiere choreography by Sarah Swenson
Performed by Cheryl Banks-Smith, TamsinCarlson, Queala Clancy, Tori Cone, Miranda Cox, and Sarah Swenson
Perhaps the only ‘triple exposure’ in music history, Partch called this infectious dance music, “A tribute to the twin stars of luck. Atonal-dynamic dithyramb. A ritualistic ecstasy…In Castor each of the first three sections requires pairs of different instruments and dancers, all three of which have identical measure patterns, but not necessarily the same rhythms. Number 4, then, is the total of these, played and danced simultaneously. Thus, three different compositions become one composition—the “Delivery,” the logical result and the sum total of the factors that make it inevitable. Pollux follows the same plan: Numbers 5, 6, and 7 combined to result in Number 8.”
Partch Instruments:
Bass Marimba, Castor and Pollux, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Diamond Marimba, Harmonic Canon, Kithara -
Dark Brother
Notes
Music by Harry Partch (1901-1974)
Final two paragraph’s of Thomas Wolfe’s “God’s Lonely Man.”Performers:
Alison Bjorkedal – Kithara I
Vicki Ray – Chromolodeon
Derek Stein – Adapted Viola
T.J. Troy – Bass Marimba and Voice
Video captured and edited by Video Angel Productions
Audio recorded by Chris VotekPresented by Jacaranda Music Series, First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica, CA, November 9, 2019.
-
Partch performing Castor & Pollux at Roulette, New York, NY
Notes
PRISM Quartet and Partch (East Coast Debut)
CASTOR & POLLUX (1952) by Harry Partch (1901 – 1974)
A Dance for the Twin Rhythms of Gemini
-
Castor & Pollux, live at REDCAT, 2008
Notes
Performed by Partch Ensemble on May 31, 2008
A wild ride in Disney Hall as Music of Microtonal Composer/Inventor Harry Partch Is performed on amazing Instruments by PARTCH, an acclaimed ensemble Under the direction of John Schneider, -Noted Musician, Educator, Founder of Microfest, He hosts the KPFK weekly Radio Show “Global Village” and also hosted the “SOUNDBOARD TV series.
Instruments:
Bass Marimba, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Diamond Marimba, Harmonic Canon, Kithara, Surrogate Kithara