Harry Partch: U.S. Highball

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
U.S. Highball is one of the first underground masterpieces in American music. Partch's work explores what, decades later, would be called a 'subculture' - the hoboes, who traveled across the U.S. in search of work or new experience, defying social conventions and the strictures of civilized society. The recording on this CD is not U.S. Highball in any of Partch's (three) versions, but an arrangement for voice and string quartet made for Kronos in 1997 by Ben Johnston, a composer who studied and worked with Partch and with whose own music Kronos has had a long and fruitful relationship. Slipcase. Nonesuch. 2003.

Tracks:

I am Harry Partch - Harry Partch
By the Rivers of Babylon - Harry Partch
Texts and Music: A Wagnerian Wrestling Match - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 1 - A Dream - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 2 - An Encounter in the Field - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 3 - On Hearing the Flute - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 4 - The Intruder - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 5 - I am a Peach Tree - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 6 - With a Man of Leisure - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 7 - A Midnight Farewell - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 8 - Before the Cask of Wine - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 9 - On the Ship of Spicewood - Harry Partch
Ten Li Po Lyrics: 10 - By the Great Wall - Harry Partch
The Use of English in Serious Music - Harry Partch
Barstow - Eight Hitch-Hiker's Inscriptions. . . - Harry Partch
San Francisco - Newsboy Cries - Harry Partch
Life is too precious to spend it with important people - Harry Partch
U. S. Highball - A Musical Account of Slim's Transcontinental Hobo Trip - Harry Partch
While my Heart Keeps Beating Time - Harry Partch
San Francisco II - Harry Partch

Tracks:

I'm going to start right off by giving you some sounds - Harry Partch
Two Settings from Joyce's Finnegan's Wake: 1 - Isobel - Harry Partch
Two Settings from Joyce's Finnegan's Wake: 2 - Annah the Allmaziful - Harry Partch
Dark Brother - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 1 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 2 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 3 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 4 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 5 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 6 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 7 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 8 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 9 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 10 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 11 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 12 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 13 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 14 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 15 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 16 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 17 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 18 - Harry Partch
A Quarter-Saw Section of Motivations and Intonations - 19 - Harry Partch

Tracks:

June 11, 1935 - Santa Rosa, California - H. PARTCH
June 12 - Federal Shelter, Stockton - H. PARTCH
June 13 - H. PARTCH
June 14 - H. PARTCH
June 16 - Huntington Ranch, San Joaquin - H. PARTCH
June 17 - H. PARTCH
July 4 - H. PARTCH
July 14 - H. PARTCH
July 16 - H. PARTCH
July 19 - H. PARTCH
July 20 - Heading north, between Sacramento and Redding (Later incorporated into The Wind) - H. PARTCH
July 24 - Federal Shelter, Portland - H. PARTCH
July 25 - Blue Ox Lodge, Seattle, Washington - H. PARTCH
July 27 - H. PARTCH
July 29 - H. PARTCH
July 30 - H. PARTCH
August 7 - Between Grants Pass and Klamath Falls, Oregon - H. PARTCH
August 15 - H. PARTCH
October 22 - Nearing Monterey (reworked in 1943 as The Letter) - H. PARTCH
October 24 - Leaving Big Sur - H. PARTCH
October 25 - Near Slate's Hot Springs (Now the Esalen Institute) - H. PARTCH
October 26 - H. PARTCH
October 27 - H. PARTCH
October 28 - H. PARTCH
October 29 - H. PARTCH
October 30 - Big Creek - H. PARTCH
November 12 - Santa Barbara - H. PARTCH
November 14 - H. PARTCH
November 15 - Leaving Santa Barbara - H. PARTCH
November 16 - Ojai - H. PARTCH
November 17 - H. PARTCH
November 23 - Los Angeles - H. PARTCH
November 28 - H. PARTCH
December 4 - H. PARTCH
December, 1935 - H. PARTCH
Feburary 1, 1936 - San Bernardino - H. PARTCH

Tracks:

Yankee Doodle Birds - H. PARTCH
Y.D. Fantasy - On the Words of an Early American Tune - H. PARTCH
O Frabjous Day! - H. PARTCH
You are charged with being guilty. Are you drunk or not drunk? - H. PARTCH
Ring Around the Moon - A Dance Fantasm for Here - H. PARTCH
Bless This Home - H. PARTCH
Harrys Wake - H. PARTCH

Amazon.com

Enclosure 2, all four cds, is curated as a sprawling notebook filled with sounds and speech instead of sketches and words. Of any Partch recording extant, it gives the best picture of the man--as the curmudgeonly, extremely innovative misanthrope that he was, as the composer who was impossibly unlike anyone else before or since. The essence of Partch's music reflects the history of the world--from his particular perspective--the imaginings of ancient Greece to the influence of Chinese musical melodrama, all propelled by homemade instruments based on a 43-tone scale named things like the "Kithara" and the "Boo." These recordings also give the best sense of his philosophy of language in music. Lamenting the whole time how text in music had become detached from the language of everyday life, Partch ran music alongside newsboys' cries and hobos' diaries, following the forms, cadence, and dynamics of speech, rather than the other way around. From his juvenilia (a wonderful song he wrote at 18) to a 45-minute segment of his wake in 1974, the first steps towards exploring Partch's sparkling works fully are made here. --Robin Edgerton

Average customer rating:

A Rebuttal and Praise
small reservations, but that's only because I'm biased
This should be the post-ultimate thing you hear.
Harry Partch CD US Highball Kronos Quartet
David Barron and Kronos do justice to a masterpiece

Harry Partch: U.S. Highball
Kronos Quartet , and Composer: Harry Partch
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Harry Partch Collection Volume 3
The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 1
Peteris Vasks: String Quartet No. 4
The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 4
The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 2

ASIN: B0000AN4FH
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Tracks:

Leaving Carmel, Californi-el
Leaving Imlay, Neva-day
Wait For The Next Drag
Crossing Great Salt Lake, U-take
There Are Rides On The Highway At Green River
Did I Ever Ride Freights? Huh!
Leaving Little America, Wyo-ma
North Platte, Nebras-katte

Album Description

U.S. Highball is one of the first underground masterpieces in American music. Partch's work explores what, decades later, would be called a 'subculture' - the hoboes, who traveled across the U.S. in search of work or new experience, defying social conventions and the strictures of civilized society. The recording on this CD is not U.S. Highball in any of Partch's (three) versions, but an arrangement for voice and string quartet made for Kronos in 1997 by Ben Johnston, a composer who studied and worked with Partch and with whose own music Kronos has had a long and fruitful relationship. Slipcase. Nonesuch. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

A Rebuttal and Praise.......2007-01-06

There have been comments and concerns with this CD in saying that it may not be in keeping with the original composition. What has been egregiously overlooked in previous complaints is the simple fact that Harry Partch was never actually in keeping with his OWN original compositions. Though most people think of an ensemble of Harry Partch instruments and performers as the true rendition of this piece, it must be realized that it first came out simply for microtonal guitar and voice--Harry traveled around to colleges and did solo performances of it! It then took on several various iterations, expanding up to, at one point, ten individual performers. Harry Partch was constantly reworking this piece, and, had he never died, would probably still be rearranging it. This particular arrangement was a commission written specifically for the Kronos Quartet, and was arranged by a former protege of Partch's. It remains as true as possible to Partch's original notes, styles and intentions. Seeing how faithfully this has been converted to string quartet is truly inspiring.

The Kronos Quartet does an absolutely incredible job managing all of the subtleties of this work. Microtonality is not easy!

I highly highly recommend this CD.

small reservations, but that's only because I'm biased.......2006-08-03

I cringe a little whenEVER I see a Partch transcripted for something other than his original instrumentation. I think that's because Partch's work at creating his own music and theatre for that music was so creative and unique that I never tire of it and want to see newer recordings using those wonderful music machines just so I know that Partch's ideas won't fade in time and remain only in some select recordings.

I'm still getting over Kronos taking my favorite Partch piece, Barstow, and stringifying it on Howl, USA, but in all honesty Kronos does justice to Partch. It shouldn't seem too suprising--Kronos has made their reputation by doing string quartet work that doesn't always sounds like string quartet. Since they've reinvented the string quartet, it would seem feasible that they could reinvent Partch FOR string quartet.

I'm not wholly buying into it yet, but I also know that far worse could have been done to Partch in this recording, so I credit Kronos for the efforts they took to keep the spirit of the original composition alive. A central connection here seems to be the common desire to make truly American music that doesn't just glom off of European traditions. In doing this, Partch set to music notes of his own hobo trip, to put American experience to music. Though Kronos will always in the end sound a little too polished for the raw nature of Partch's work, I thank them for keeping his name relevant in contemporary music.

Thank you, Kronos.

This should be the post-ultimate thing you hear........2005-10-01

Can't really criticize the performance because the composition was so terrible. Often one can say that one's musical purchases are simply a matter of taste. In this case, I can say that this music is bad on an absolute scale. Really, if you like this kind of stuff, hang out with some homeless people. I think I've seen this performed live outside the methadone clinic. You can check there, too.

Harry Partch CD US Highball Kronos Quartet.......2005-09-20

The whole deal was top notch. Price, speed and quality. Could not have asked for more. Very, very pleased.

David Barron and Kronos do justice to a masterpiece.......2003-11-19

The performance by David Barron and the Kronos Quartet of Harry Partch's landmark "US Highball" provides an experience of precise abandon. This entertaining, demanding, and thoroughly original work is given a performance in which the highlight is certainly Mr. Barron's expressive reading of Partch's gem of a text, in which vignettes narrating the hobo's life appear as brief scenes, sometimes hilariously funny, as in the statement by an old man emerging from a piano crate, who tells the gathering of hobos who have just arrived in his train yard, "I used to be a bum once"; or the hobo who observes concerning the passing motorists, "They don't stop much, do they?" Mr. Barron's ability to modulate his inflection, accent, and tone with the greatest flexibility, while still articulating the words so that they are always intelligible, bring a vitality to the performance which Partch clearly intended, and it is this vitality which, supported by the Kronos' standard excellence, makes this performance an experience to be treasured. This reviewer has driven across the country on several occasions, and the performance captured wonderfully the sense of changing vistas and conditions characteristic of such journeys.

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