Harry Partch: The Bewitched

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Sick of the seriousness of "the dance" and theater, American iconoclast Harry Partch wrote this "dance-satire" from 1952 to '55. Set in the mystical realm of the University of Illinois, Partch's 10 vignettes catapult the absurd into the life of the everyday student and audience member--and that life, in turn, on stage, is snapped right back into the absurd (representative titles: "Visions Fill the Eyes of a Defeated Basketball Team in the Shower Room," "The Cognoscenti Are Plunged into a Deep Descent While at Cocktails"). While the musicians and dancers intermingle indiscriminately on stage (the former performing on Partch's notorious carefully constructed and invented microtonal instruments), the theater rings with the cadences inspired by Chinese musical theater, erratic to the Western ear. That as the foundation becomes punctuated, when necessary, by wild percussion swirls, the odd screaming frenzy, solemn-march patterns, and scatters of bells: all in a delightfully shameless unpredictable fashion. --Robin Edgerton

Tracks:

PrologueThe Lost Musicians Mix Magic
Scene 1Three Undergrads Become Transfigured in a Hong Kong Music Hall
Scene 2Exercises in Harmony and Counterpoint Are Tried in a Court of Ancient Ritual
Scene 3The Romancing of a Pathological Liar Comes to an Inspired End
Scene 4A Soul Tormented by Contemporary Music Finds a Humanizing Alchemy
Scene 5Visions Fill the Eyes of a Defeated Basketball Team in the Shower Room
Scene 6Euphoria Descends a Sausalito Stairway
Scene 7Two Detectives on the Trail of a Tricky Culprit Turn in Their Badges
Scene 8A Court in its Own Contempt Rises to a Motherly Apotheosis
Scene 9A Lost Political Soul Finds Himself Among the Voteless Women of Paradise
Scene 10The Cognoscenti Are Plunged into a Demonic Descent While at Cocktails
Epilogue 2:07

Product Description

NEWLY REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL MONO MASTER TAPES!!! *** The Bewitched was Partch's first work solely intended for dance (and mime-dance at that; he was not overly enamored in his lifetime of so-called "modern dance"). Drawing heavily from his deep affection for the music-theatrical performance traditions of Greek theater, as well as those from Africa, Bali, and Chinese opera, Partch conceived of a contemporary American music ritual-theater where musicians not only play, but also function at times as movers-singers-actors. Such is the case of The Bewitched, where the instruments are the set, in front of (and around) which dancers "dance," but where the onstage musicians also move and sing. "The Bewitched is in the tradition of world-wide ritual theatre. It is the opposite of specialized. I conceived and wrote it in California in the period 1952-55, following the several performances of my version of Sophocles' Oedipus. In spirit, if not wholly in content, it is a satyr-play. It is a seeking for release--through satire, whimsy, magic, ribaldry--from the catharsis of tragedy. It is an essay toward a miraculous abeyance of civilized rigidity, in the feeling that the modern spirit might thereby find some ancient and magical sense of rebirth. Each of the 12 scenes is a theatrical unfolding of nakedness, a psychological strip-tease, or--a diametric reversal, which has the effect of underlining the complementary character, the strange affinity, of seeming opposites." --Harry Partch

Average customer rating:

a creative genius

The Music of Harry Partch

Manufacturer: Composers Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000006NEI
Release Date: 1994-04-20

Customer Reviews:

a creative genius.......2004-02-28

Harry Partch was a extraordinary character who shunned the music world, who had lived most of his life in the California desert making instruments out of airline fuel tanks, jars, bottles and what ever else he could salvage. A total of 30 instruments that produced incredible sounds that could only be played by the composer or his small ensemble group that took a great deal of time to perfect.

Tracks:

Perfectly Happy
Don't Love Get Moving
Brilliant Sunshine
A Much Loved Man
Over Here
Leviathan
Turn The Radio On
Come With Me
Super Silly Smile
RetroHippiePopFunk
That's What We Paid For
Whatever Happened To Lucy

Average customer rating:

Enclosure Five: Harry Partch

Manufacturer: INNOVA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Fusion & World Fusion | Compilations | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 1
The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 2

ASIN: B00000F1TT
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Tracks:

Ulysses Departs From The Edge Of The World
Revelation In The Courthouse Park After The Bacchae Of Euripides: Chorus One
Revelation In The Courthouse Park After The Bacchae Of Euripides: Chorus Three, In Part
Revelation In The Courthouse Park After The Bacchae Of Euripides: From Scene One: Hymn To Dionysus: Holy Joy And Get Religion
Revelation In The Courthouse Park After The Bacchae Of Euripides: From Scene Two: Hymn To Dionysus: What The Majority Believes
Revelation In The Courthouse Park After The Bacchae Of Euripides: From Scene Two: Hymn To Dionysus: Glory To The Male Womb
Revelation In The Courthouse Park After The Bacchae Of Euripides: End Of Scene Three And All Of Chorus Four
Revelation In The Courthouse Park After The Bacchae Of Euripides: End Of Scene Four And Coda
Introduction Of King Oedipus
King Oedipus: King Oedipus: Introduction
King Oedipus: King Oedipus: Opening Scene
King Oedipus: King Oedipus: First Chorus
King Oedipus: King Oedipus: Tirsesias Scene (Beginning)

Tracks:

King Oedipus: Tiresias Scene
King Oedipus: Second Chorus
King Oedipus: Creon Scene
King Oedipus: Jocasta Scene
King Oedipus: Incidental Music
King Oedipus: Third Chorus
King Oedipus: Messenger Scene
King Oedipus: Fourth Chorus
King Oedipus: Herdsman Scene
King Oedipus: Oedipus Scene
King Oedipus: Fifth Chorus
King Oedipus: Instrumental Commentary
King Oedipus: Antiphony
King Oedipus: Exit Oedipus - Pantomime
King Oedipus: Final Chorus And Coda
Partita In G: Menuet
Come Away, Death
Come away, Death
By The Rivers Of Babylon (137th Psalm)
The Bewitched: Introduction To The Bewitched

Tracks:

The Bewitched: Prologue
The Bewitched: Scene 1: Background For The Transfiguration Of American Undergrads In A Hong Kong Music Hall
The Bewitched: Scene 2: Background For The Permutation Of Excercises In Harmony And Counterpoint
The Bewitched: Scene 3: Background For The Inspired Romancing Of A Pathological Liar
The Bewitched: Scene 4: Background For The Alchemy Of A Soul Tormented By Contemporary Music
The Bewitched: Scene 5: Background For The Visions Of A Defeated Basketball Team In The Shower Room
The Bewitched: Scene 6: Background For The Euphoria On A Sausalito Stairway
The Bewitched: Scene 7: Background For The Transmutation Of Detectives On The Trail Of A Culprit
The Bewitched: Scene 8: Background For The Apotheosis Of A Court In Its Own Contempt
The Bewitched: Scene Nine: Background for a Political Soul Lost Among the Voteless Women of Paradise
The Bewitched: Scene 10: Background For The Demonic Descent Of The Cognoscenti While Shouting Over Cocktails
The Bewitched: Epilogue

Average customer rating:

A Partch Masterpiece

The Bewitched, A Dance Satire

Manufacturer: Composers Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005TYV
Release Date: 1997-11-18

Tracks:

The Bewitched: Prologue: The Lost Musicians Mix Magic
The Bewitched: Scene 1: Three Undergrads Become Transfigured In A Hong Kong Music Hall
The Bewitched: Scene 2: Excercises In Harmony And Counterpoint Are Tried In A Court Of Ancient Ritual
The Bewitched: Scene 3: The Romancing Of A Pathological Liar Comes To An Inspired End
The Bewitched: Scene 4: A Soul Tormented By Contemporary Music Finds A Humanizing Alchemy
The Bewitched: Scene 5: Visions Fill The Eyes Of A Defeated Basketball Team In The Shower Room
The Bewitched: Scene 6: Euphoria Descends A Sausalito Stairway
The Bewitched: Scene 7: Two Detectives On The Trail Of A Tricky Culprit Turn In Their Badges
The Bewitched: Scene 8: A Court In Its Own Contempt Rises To A Motherly Apothesis
The Bewitched: Scene 9: A Lost Political Soul Finds Himself Among The Voteless Women Of Paradise
The Bewitched: Scene 10: The Cognoscenti Are Plunged Into A Demonic Descent While At Cocktails

Amazon.com

Sick of the seriousness of "the dance" and theater, American iconoclast Harry Partch wrote this "dance-satire" from 1952 to '55. Set in the mystical realm of the University of Illinois, Partch's 10 vignettes catapult the absurd into the life of the everyday student and audience member--and that life, in turn, on stage, is snapped right back into the absurd (representative titles: "Visions Fill the Eyes of a Defeated Basketball Team in the Shower Room," "The Cognoscenti Are Plunged into a Deep Descent While at Cocktails"). While the musicians and dancers intermingle indiscriminately on stage (the former performing on Partch's notorious carefully constructed and invented microtonal instruments), the theater rings with the cadences inspired by Chinese musical theater, erratic to the Western ear. That as the foundation becomes punctuated, when necessary, by wild percussion swirls, the odd screaming frenzy, solemn-march patterns, and scatters of bells: all in a delightfully shameless unpredictable fashion. --Robin Edgerton

Customer Reviews:

A Partch Masterpiece.......2002-08-09

This CD contains one of Harry Partch's most important works. It ranks in scope and inventiveness with Delusion of the Fury. It is by turns moving and playful.

After a disappointing experience working on a music-theater version of Oedipus, Partch turned to humor and satire in this work. Written for the University of Illinois/ Champaign-Urbana, the episodic work satirizes aspects of collegiate life but in the style of ancient ritual theater. Dancers, singers and musicians are integrated on the stage on a "gasamskunstwerk" for the 21st century.

Musically, the Bewitched is a good introduction to Partch's longer piece. It is written for a combination of his originally created instruments and some traditional wind and stringed instruments. Partch's musical language is dominated by percussive effects, microtonal scales and influences from music of world cultures. While this music is definately experimental, what hits me most as I grow older, is how familiar and assessible it really is. Partch bypasses the fiercest debates of his time (tonality vs serialism) and instead moves to a far older debate; equal temper vs just intonation. Partch opts strongly for microtonal music, but based on the laws of just intonation. At times the music resembles Chinese theater music, at other times it shows some African roots. And in this piece, the use of traditional western counterpoint and even western folk music is evident in some of the more satirical moments.

This CRI recording is marvelously remastered. Taken from the original 1st performance in 1957, it is amazing how clear and spacious the sound is. I would assume that there was quite a bit of cleanup on the origianl, just due to technological advances in the last 50 years, but the recording sounds as if it was made yesterday. It compares favorably to the Innova Recordings that have come out of the American Composers Forum...and has the added advantage of being one disc instead of a boxed set. As a result, you can purchase just the Bewitched and not shell out the moeny for 4 Partch theater pieces if you are new to the composer. (Those of us who are mad for Partch will want the Innova series as well, since it has Revelations in the Courthouse Square and Oedipus, both of which have not been available in other versions for some time.)

Partch is a great composer to listen to, especially if you are new to the avant-garde and want to listen to something that is both challenging but not too discordant. And the Bewitched is a great place to start listening to this wonderful American eccentric.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Best of [Import]

Delio: To Make, As; Dashow: Songs from A Spiral Tree

Hard Times Come Again No More, Vol. 1

Ballads: David Murray [Import]

So Far Away [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Import]

Food for Thought

Goodnight, Angel

Etudes Tableaux

Forro Do Leao [Import]

Graciously

Fire It Up

El Original Cuarteto D'aida

Cruzando Fronteras [Import]

The Only Way Left Is Up

Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast