“Stunning…” - Los Angeles Times
“Marvelous to watch and to hear…” - LA Weekly
"An interlink of splendid musicians.....a true garden of delights." - Lou Harrison
Partch is a unique ensemble specializing in the music and instruments of the iconoclastic American Maverick composer Harry Partch who, between 1930 and 1972, created one of the most amazing bodies of sensually alluring and emotionally powerful music of the 20th century. Partch wrote music dramas, dance theater, multi-media extravaganzas, vocal music and chamber music---all to be performed on the extraordinary orchestra of instruments that he designed and built himself.
Since their formation as Just Strings in 1991 to perform the music of Lou Harrison and Harry Partch, the group has gone on to commission and premiere works by Larry Polansky, Mamoru Fujieda, John Luther Adams, Mari Takano, Sasha Bogdonawitsch and others. In 1995 they toured Japan under the auspices of the American Embassy's prestigious Interlink Festival, giving three weeks of concerts and lectures on new music. In 2005, with the completion of their twelfth Partch instrument, the group began performing under the name Partch. They have performed for Chamber Music in Historic Sites, the LA County Museum of Art, UCLA's Partch Centennial Celebration, Sacramento's Festival of New American Music, Minnesota Public Radio’s American Mavericks, the Songlines series at Mills College, and the Gordon Getty Concerts at the Getty Center. In 2004, the ensemble made their REDCAT/Disney Hall debut premiering Harry Partch’s Bitter Music, and has returned every year since. Their CD, Just West Coast, was CD Review's "CD of the Year" in 1994 and inducted into Fanfare’s “Classical Hall of Fame” (2003). Their recording of Sasha Matson's The 5th Lake was released by New Albion Records, while their latest Just Guitars (2003) appears on Bridge Records. Partch is the resident ensemble of MicroFest, Los Angeles' yearly festival of microtonal music.
Recorded: live on March 16, 2003 at the Beta Lounge in San Francisco
In 1967, San Francisco’s Fifty Foot Hose were certainly one of the
innovators of a sound that took Psychedelia to new heights and was
captured on the band’s one record, Cauldron. They are a totally
unique hybrid—on one hand pulsating bay area acid rock, on the other,
fractured electronic freakery, becoming one whole cohesive being. The
sci-fi-ish video game-like artwork hinted at the sounds within, as did
the Limelight label’s pedigree for truly progressive sounds. Band
leader, Cork Marcheschi, used homemade electronic devices to create
crude and experimental soundscapes and instrumental compositions that
were sprinkled throughout the album.
Often starting shows with a swelling rumble that exploded into the
first song, they soon developed a rabid following on the SF scene,
though there was the occasional totally wrong gig, like when a
very-pregnant Nancy had to perform at a Catholic Girls’ school! Still,
the group wowed the crowds, performing with greats like Chuck Berry and
Fairport Convention.
Hi there! The Danish composer Per Nørgård's music has been much on my mind the past few years. Arguably the most important now living Scandinavian composer also has a remarkable output for the guitar. I spent a couple of years working with the composer on this repertoire, spanning from 1973 to 2000, in order to embrace the emerging performance practice associated with his work.
I have just uploaded 10 new tracks, all taken from "Tales From the North", my double CD box with the complete guitar works of Danish composer Per Nørgård. Also, in my latest blog you will find recent reviews of this release.
For further reading about the composer, this is an excellent website, with articles by a series of scholars and performers that have dedicated much study to his work:
I thought you might like to know that when I introduced myself to David Robertson, the conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony, we talked for a while about our favorite composers --- he grew very enthusiastic when I mentioned Harry Partch and that when I was a teen I had attended a performance of Partch's "The Bewitched" in St. Louis (a few days after its premiere performances at Univ. of Illinois in Urbana) --- in 1958, I think.
thanks for the add to friends, i used to have a borrowed copy of genesis of a music, however, after returning the book i never did buy another copy, and as far as i have heard the book is out of print.
Thank you for the add, and thank you for keeping that very special and highly original music alive and performed with such excellence. Best regards from Sweden
