New releases from Innova - Enclosure 7

Saw this today on Avant Music News
http://www.somnius.com/amn/2006/07/27/new-from-innova/

New releases on Innova at http://www.innovarecordings.com/

Harry Partch: Enclosure VII (DVD)

Harry Partch (like his friend Anais Nin) considered his life�s work to be a letter to the world. His last act was going to be to add the enclosures. He never got around to it. After 20 years of working on the Partch archives, Philip Blackburn has now completed the seven-part Enclosures series as it were on his behalf.

Enclosure 7, the culminating DVD of this multimedia series, is a monumental tribute to the most significant works of this American original and iconoclast. It includes new versions of his late masterworks and never-before-seen footage that bring us closer to the real Harry behind the myth.

The Dreamer That Remains is a documentary produced by Betty Freeman and directed by Stephen Pouliot in 1972. Here is the director�s original cut along with his commentary. If you�ve never seen Partch or his instruments before, this is the place to start.

Delusion of the Fury was his magnum opus; a lifetime of instrument-invention and ideas of ritual theater were poured into this giant work. The 1971 film has been resynched and the soundtrack remastered in 5.1 surround sound.

The CBS LPs of this work came with a Bonus Album of Harry introducing his instruments. Unavailable for years, this DVD features this talk along with a slideshow of the instruments.

Revelation in the Courthouse Park was Harry�s fusion of current pop idolatry with parallel (only a little more sinister) scenes of Ancient Greece. Now you can see excerpts of the original 1960 Illinois production, replete with gymnasts, fireworks, and transvestites.

And finally, if you ever wondered how a simple recipe for rose petal jam could turn into a hobo dance and a diatribe about music critics, you are in for a treat.

In short, with the reprinting of Blackburn�s award-winning bio-scrapbook, Enclosure 3, this series �is about as close to one man�s life as we are ever likely to get.�

Prent Rodgers

Prent,

{you wrote...}
>Saw this today on Avant Music News
>Harry Partch: Enclosure VII (DVD)

Sorry I neglected to mention this to the list (life is still crazy in the real world for me these days!). Some background:

>The Dreamer That Remains is a documentary produced by Betty Freeman and directed by Stephen Pouliot in 1972. Here is the director’s original cut along with his commentary. If you’ve never seen Partch or his instruments before, this is the place to start.

Last statement is so dead-on. Whenever we had new people to introduce into the ensemble, or train some new group, first thing was to have an informal sit-down and view the film. It is the one, best way to see what made Harry tick, his feelings for performance and life, and how he went about doing what he did. There are ample scenes to bolster the impression he was an absolute wild man at times, but in that sense it is somewhat open-eyed. Wasn't always so outrageous, but he did live large and vividly. Beautiful visuals of the instruments as well.

>Delusion of the Fury was his magnum opus; a lifetime of instrument-invention and ideas of ritual theater were poured into this giant work. The 1971 film has been resynched and the soundtrack remastered in 5.1 surround sound.

We had found that one of the prints in the archives here was a pristine Kodacolor 16mm print that hadn't been screened more than a couple times, so I had it transferred at a good film/video facility in LA, and Philip married the "Delusion" master from the original Columbia sessions. Certainly gives a good glimpse into what he pointed at towards a truly corporeal performance aesthetic.

>The CBS LPs of this work came with a Bonus Album of Harry introducing his instruments. Unavailable for years, this DVD features this talk along with a slideshow of the instruments.

We went back and transferred from the masters of Harry's monologue, and Philip edited them with a fine selection of photos of the instruments.

>[Revelation] Now you can see excerpts of the original 1960 Illinois production, replete with gymnasts, fireworks, and transvestites.

Transvestites? Hmmm. Vintage footage, that is for sure.

>And finally, if you ever wondered how a simple recipe for rose petal jam could turn into a hobo dance and a diatribe about music critics, you are in for a treat.

Fasten your seat belts, I think Harry had a brandy or two before they filmed this!

>In short, with the reprinting of Blackburn’s award-winning bio-scrapbook, Enclosure 3, this series “is about as close to one man’s life as we are ever likely to get.

Yep. Gilmore fills in all the gaps with his excellent bio, but when you survey what Philip Blackburn has done with this extraordinary series, it really is nothing short of amazing. I just sure as hell wished it would have happened while Harry was alive.

Recommended...

Cheers,
Jon

>The Dreamer That Remains

on DVD! Sweet! That's $18 less I'll need to pay to have
my VHS tapes converted.

>Here is the director�s original cut
>along with his commentary.

Sweet!

>If you�ve never seen Partch or his
>instruments before, this is the place to start.

Agree.

>Delusion of the Fury

$36 in the bank so far.

>The 1971 film has been resynched and the soundtrack

Rock.

>remastered in 5.1 surround sound.

? I'm a bit dubious on this.

>The CBS LPs of this work came with a Bonus Album of Harry introducing
>his instruments. Unavailable for years, this DVD features this talk
>along with a slideshow of the instruments.

If I know what this refers to, that makes $54, minus...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G1R556/

...only $15!

-Carl