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On The Sensational Tone (of the last few days)

🔗"Jonathan M. Szanto" <jszanto@...>

12/20/1997 11:39:12 AM
..and it's not just that I miss Brian McLaren, but also the erudite and
pithy responses from Gregory Taylor every 16th or 17th McLaren post. I'm
almost willing to hold a bake sale to pay for a modem and email account for
B.M.!

On to the matter(s) at hand...

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Damn. I hate it when someone discusses a subject I actually *know*
something about.

>I have never much cared for the music of Partch.

No problem there.

>He apparently possessed some talent, almost wholly vitiated by his
>perfectly absurd tuning.

What a drag that Partch's foray into just intonation, in addition to
serving as a vocabulary for his work, helped kick-start a re-investigation
into tuning procedures in general (at least in this country). Man, if it
wouldn't have been for his meddling we wouldn't have to listen to hacks
like Lou Harrison say "Just Intonation is the best intonation."

>This is, by the way, the response of the overwhelming majority of
>people who have ever heard Partch's music.

Yeah, right Gregg. Makes me wonder about the kudos flowing in regarding the
CRI reissues, and how they had the biggest month of sales in November when
they were issued. Or the folks that have gone to great, no, Herculean
efforts, to resurrect and perform even the smaller works of his (I am
reminded of John Schneider's 10+ year adventure to recreate the Adapted
Guitar just to perform "Barstow", Johnny Reinhard's ensembles). Reminds me
of all the audiences during my 15 years in the Partch Ensemble, insisting
multiple encores. Of people coming not from across the country, but from
across 'the pond', to see the performances. Yada, yada, yada.

>The album that I found at the local library is laughably bad, but perhaps
>there are better performances.

..but it's so much easier to dismiss when you judge the work on
auditioning one "laughably bad" recording.

>His book Genesis of a Music is wonderful reading, although again, his
>utonalities, enthusiastic disquisitions on 2-cent differences and the
>like betray more the amateur than the savant.

Maybe if it ran to "a 10,000 page book", as Gregg has obliquely promised
us, the sheer weight would lift it out of the minor leagues.

>Partch's music does have the merit of opening a few people's minds to
>new possibilities, which is all to the good. But usually, his music
>closes minds tighter than ever before.

Usually? Bullshit. [And I wouldn't normally use a word like that, but
recently I saw it used to elegant effect in "The New Yorker", by a Fairly
Important Person.] That said, Partch was not as concerned about the mass
market at Mr. Gibson is. You know: 19tet rock. Ticketmaster is salivating
as we type...

>Partch, you know, was also a bit of a... crank.

..and a bit more. Anyone, or *virtually* anyone, on this list would know
that. To Mr. Gibson, who I take at his word that he is of gentle and
reasonable demeanor, a caution: keep your mug shots locked up, because
Random House is looking for a picture to put beside the definition for
"hubris".

Oh, I almost forgot: no flame intended.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

On a related matter, Gary Morrison had found, a while back, an early CRI
Partch CD:

>It was on the CRI label, and its catalog
>number apparently is CD-7000. It has The Bewitched, Castor & Pollux, The
>Letter, Windsong, On the Seventh Day Petal Fell on Petaluma, and others.

Note that this item no longer in the catalog, all material having now been
included in the 4 (separate) CD Harry Partch Collection, numbered CD 751
though 754. Some of it may be laughably bad. ;-)

Have a great time of year, all of you; I gotta go play "Nutcracker", and
damn it if it isn't in 12tet! Those tyrannical snowflakes!!!

Cheers,
Jon
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Jonathan M. Szanto : "Once upon a time there was a little boy...
jszanto@adnc.com : ...and he went outside."
Corporeal Meadows : http://www.adnc.com/web/jszanto/welcome.html
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*


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