I spent the summer reading Gilmor's Partch bio. The research was excellent and I consider it to be certainly worth the price. Gilmor goes a bit off the deep end with his occassional psycho-analysis of some of Harry's sitations/ characteristics ( I find it hard to believe that Harry's homosexuallity was caused by him being circumsized (sp?) at the age of eight!) -- but, hey, Bob Gilmor is a musicologist -- and I think a very good one! It is not an "upper" read but I think very accurate to Harry's ideals and stuggles.
The day I finished it the new Lou Harrison bio (Miller /Lieberman) arrived and that was like turning on a different light- very true to Lou's life but very "uP"- the celebration of a composer.
Both books need to be read by us folks.
Also the Robert Erickson bio by Charles Sheer published by Fallen Leaf Press (?) is very good.
That's what I think-
Allen Strange
************************************************* * ALLEN STRANGE * *===============================================* * School of Music and Dance * * San Jose State University * * 1 Washington Square * * San Jose, CA USA 95192-0095 * * vox +408 924-4646 fax +408 924-4773 * * astrange@email.sjsu.edu * * http://www.music.sjsu.edu/Comp/strange.html * *************************************************