Those instruments were also explored in Partch’s chimerically titled suite of twelve compositions called Intrusions. This subset of five include his Two Studies on Ancient Greek Scales that were originally for solo Harmonic Canon, to which he later added a bass marimba obligatto. Another Canon was strung and bridged in his 43-note octave from C#3-C#4 for The Wind whose hyperchromatic arpeggios hauntingly evoke two moods of that natural phenomenon that can both caress or destroy. The first text comes from the pen of Irish born poet Ella Young who lived in the Bay Area for many years, with the second from 6th century Chinese poet/philosoper Lao Tze that Partch had previously set in his 1935 memoir Bitter Music. In The Street, the chilly wind that blows over the jails and cartracks of Chicago sets the final paragraphs of Willard Motley’s 1947 best seller Knock on Any Door that describes a young Italian immigrant’s downward spiral from altar boy to criminal. And finally, Ella Young—also a Celtic mythologist who believed in fairies, pixies, and praised the benefits of talking to trees— returns to interrogate The Waterfall, curious as to why it would possibly seek oblivion after such a vivacious life in the sunlight.
— JS
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.
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.
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.
John Schneider discusses his composition “Listening to Lu Tzu” for Partch’s Adapted Guitar II. Together with Ensemble President T.J. Troy, John discusses the history and inspiration behind the work, the enhanced techniques applied to create this ethereal mood, and general notions about composing for Harry Partch’s Adapted Guitar II.
This video is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
PARTCH ENSEMBLE: PREMIERES Six World Premiere compositions created in 2020/21 as part of PARTCH Ensemble’s Commissions Project Text: Li Po (China, 701-762c.e.), trans. David Hinton Partch’s Adapted Guitar II sounds rather like an ancient Chinese ch’in, the venerated table zither strung with 7 silk strings, said to be the favorite of Confucius. Its sliding notes, harmonics, and subtleties of expression, famously inspired several millenia of evocative repertoire. In this modern setting, the large 1” plastic dowel used to stop the strings is—at one point—used as a bow to recreate the wind singing through the pines that Li Po so elegantly conjures in this medieval paean to the power of music. Text: Li Po (China, 701-762c.e.), trans. David Hinton.
