classic albums, atsonicpark edition # 28: harry partch - delusion of the fury
 

HARRY PARTCH "DELUSION OF THE FURY" (collected on "Enclosure VI: Delusion of the Fury")
CD released in 1999 recorded from a performance in the 70's, Columbia Records

Forgetting the home made instruments and the uses of microtuning and the stories of a man willfully being a bum and so on and so forth... ignoring any kind of aesthetics associated with this kind of music... and just focusing on the music... all that other stuff's fascinating and amazing, but there are a lot of people who seem to enjoy the IDEA of Harry Partch more than his actual music. Which is a shame, because his music is just absolutely unbelievable. Imagine "classical" music if the Residents did it or something -- not the best description, I guess, but... very, very alien sounding, bizarre instrumentation but very competently played and arranged and full of a million different themes running throughout. This particular album was made for a play and it consists of two tales with an overture, interlude and extended coda that examines the nature of death and the release from suffering. It's very energetic, filled with bizarre rhythms, and does not appear to be random like a lot of "avant garde" stuff that this is usually lumped with. Basically, if you just want your mind to be blown, listen to this. My highest reccomendation....

cool

Just an amazing musician.

This has nothing to do with this thread, but I once heard Captain Beefheart described as "Harry Partch meets Howlin Wolf" which is hilarious and perfect.

i've heard so much about him, but i'm yet to check him out.

if he influenced beefheart he already influences me by default

and as usual, atsonicpark, everyneurotic, and batreleaser, the only ones giving a shit about something other than the mbv reunion.

there was a recent issue of the wire with an overview of his discography. couldn't read it but it looked great and had some good photos.

Just because I haven't chimed in doesn't mean I haven't had Harry Partch recordings in my house since the time you were soiling your diapers.
How's the weather up on that high horse?


Edit:
And yes, I do think this is a great one. Between this one and "The Bewitched" for my favorites of his. I am loathe to admit this, but a lot of his book "Genesis Of A Music" went over my head. I tried reading that in about 1990 though; maybe it's time to give it another try.

its just beautiful up here thanks very much.

Word.




Anyhow, I think 'The Dreamer that Remains' (on volume 3 of The Harry Partch Collection) is my favorite thing he ever did. Check that if you haven't already. It contains everything that makes Harry Partch great wrapped up in about 10 minutes. Delusion of the Fury and the Bewitched are pretty great too.

My all time favorite thing is uh.. I don't remember the title.. "and on the seventh day the petals fell" or something.. it's 30 minutes long and on the harry partch collection vol. 2...

Here's the full album:

http://www.badongo.com/file/4554959

Just brilliant.

Here is a great site where you can 'play' some of his instruments.

http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html

Also, just found this, I'm not a huge .flac guy, but this is cool:

THE WORLD OF HARRY PARTCH
http://www.avantgardeproject.org/agp57/index.htm

HARRY PARTCH COLLECTION VOLUME 4: THE BEWITCHED
http://yourtrack.blogspot.com/2007/1...-volume-4.html

HARRY PARTCH COLLECTION VOLUME 2 [THE WAYWARD/ON THE SEVENTH DAY SECTIONS]
http://bravojuju.blogspot.com/2008/0...th-day_05.html

Easily the most creative musician ever.

DUDE, partch is my second favorite composer (behing stockhausen and xenakis, no surprise there), i was introduced to him through this weasel walter blastitude article:

http://www.blastitude.com/17/CLASSICALGAS.htm

he has lots of interesting thing to say about 20th century avant garde music, well he says lots of interesting things about all good music, but especially this and like, wierd 70s prog rock (i.e. magma)

Wow, excellent article, thanks, I'd never read that.

And yes Stockhausen and Xenakis are amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6buNHKzS-Nc

You can watch him performing this album.

Harry Partch is mind melting.

Excellent review by Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3/Faxed Head/Mr. Bungle/etc):
Harry Partch — The Delusion of the Fury: A Ritual of Dream and Delusion The American genius' masterpiece (we think so at least). An innovator not just in tonality, which he is well-known for from having invented his own 'microtonal,' ratio-laden musical system and theory, as well as creating the instruments that could accomodate such music, Partch was also unique in his approach to performance. Sort of like a musician's Artaud, he expected his performers to also be mimes and actors — his compositions were larger in essence than things that come by way of mere instrumental prowess. For this reason, many of his performers did not necessarily need to be classically trained musicians. This seems strange to some, since many excellent well-trained musicians can find his music to be be extremely difficult to play. It's possible that prior training might be more of a problem than an advantage in this case. The simple will to play it right counts for a lot in music — more than 'ability' in fact. Learning a new music theory can be far more vexing than learning a new language.
In The Delusion of the Fury Partch's music takes on a primordial complexity. Like an aural snowflake, it's a very organic-sounding mathematicism that is comprehensible and immediate, unlike a lot of other 20th Century "avant garde" music. Even when it goes California 1969 on us there's an inoffensive charm to its faux-primitivism that makes you actually stop and go, "hmmm... this isn't even really pissing me off." Because Partch has a way of turning the difficulty of pulling off a big-scale production like this (all unique instruments in a world of institutionalized music-ism) to and immediate poetic benefit somehow. It's about the setting, the people, the times AND his composition that he labored over for two decades. It's clear that he intuitively understood the only real mountain-moving force — the ancient art of magic. But Partch had the accompanying brains to create it by fashioning its specific instruments, and then knowing how to get people to do their parts right; if you're composing (not improvising) you have to know what the piece demands, and not deviate from it. Like a slow motion ritual. That's the part that's usually sacrificed at the altar of modernity, robbing art of its natural dignity. Luckily Partch was at the right place at the right time (despite his being a penniless hobo at one point, & getting royalty checks for $1.90) and had people to help him implement his important visions. In the land of the "free" that's the best any Mozart can hope for, and Partch and his supporters did very very well.
With this recording we should all be inspired, if not flatly intimidated by the legacy we have to live up to.

that article was a bit informative, but he didnt really have anything interesting to say.
and he writes in an incredibly aggravating style, he writes like he is on a message board or something like that.
i am intruiged by harry partch, i DL this album and will let you know what i think.

?????this is new to me....checking it out later......

Okay,