Weird Nightmare album

I got the following information from Roger Merrick of the British
Harry Partch Society about the album "Hal Willner Presents - Weird
Nightmare - Meditations on Mingus," Columbia COL 472467-2
Time 74m 18s

The review says in part:

"What is the connection between Charles Mingus and Harry Partch? None,
appears to be the answer, apart from the musical inspiration of Hal Willner - during the development of the project, Willner says he constructed some sequences of Native American music and 'rhythms of the street and gangland.'
He then used this tape to construct a framework of Mingus compositions that had, he says, a 'similar feel.' "

"Thumm then serendipitously exposed Willner to Partch's music and
instruments. Amazingly, Willner made the connection between Native
American and 'street and gangland' (read - hobo) music right away, and
began to want to incorporate the Partch instruments into the Mingus
work. Mingus had explored the ethnic and subcultural origins and
derivation of his music, so he had in that respect a similarity to Harry
Partch (I wouldn't want to overdo this)."

"The music is by Mingus, not Partch, and not all our members will want
to venture into it, but the Partch instruments add considerably to the
atmosphere with their tonal presence, and sometimes feature strongly in
arrangements."

"The musicians featured will surely bring the attention of the more
intrepid of their followers to the music of Harry Partch - featured
musicians include: Keith Richards, Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones,
Elvis Costello, musician to the world, Bill Frisell of Material, Robbie
Robertson of the Band, Leonard Cohen, Dr John, screaming woman Diamanda
Galas, Don Alias, Bobby Previte, Bernard Fowler, Marc Ribot, ex-Void-Oid
Robert Quine, and, as they say, many more who are possibly as well known,
but not by me."

"Not every 'famous' musician plays a Partch instrument - Charlie Watts
and Keith Richards don't, but for examples, Elvis Costello plays Harmonic
Canon, Marc Ribot Marimba Eroica."

"Partch instruments featured on the album are: Chromelodion II, Cone Gongs
(no indication that the Gourd Tree was used), Bass Marimba, Marimba Eroica,
Harmonic Canon, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Surrogate Kithara, Crychord, and
Diamond Marimba."

"Danlee Mitchell and Dean Drummond are credited with special thanks,
implying the instruments were from Dean's collection with Danlee's overall
approval."

"But the Partch instruments are not being used here merely to spice up
a jazz album, they do affect the intonation and harmonies, and they
contribute substantially to the atmosphere of the disc. I recommend investigating this disc - not maybe everyone's cup of musical tea, but
in many ways valuable - it is, so far as I know, the first project of
its kind to use Partch instruments; Partch is profiled highly. It
introduces (?) some interesting and adventurous musicians and their
audiences to Partch's work. If it is difficult to get this disc - and it
took us a while: we were informed it had been deleted, which isn't the
case - rather, it has been recently issued, and hasn't fully percolated
its' way through the catalogues - we can order it for you."


For more information on the BHPS, email Roger Merrick at
<100550.2266@compuserve.com>. There is also a WEB page, but I don't
have the URL.

BTW, this should appear in Digest # 666? Does that mean that xenharmonic
music is satanic? "Enquiring Minds want to know."


--John

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>but tell me...how could I play a
>piece like "Mysteries" in pure tuning? Perhaps I'm out to lunch, but it
>seems that the structure of the piece does not lend itself to this
>system. What kind of just system would allow one to use so many
>different chords freely?

I find it interesting that you feel that just intonation constrains the
number of chords. Certainly you would have as many different chords
available in a 19-tone just system. More actually. What just intonation
constrains is the ability to modulate (and have it sound the same). Perhaps
this is what you mean by using the chords "freely." In a just system the
same "chord" as defined by the notes in the system used relative to the
tonic would often sound different relative to different tonics. Thus if you
finger a "major chord" on the piano, it will not always be a 4:5:6 in just
intonation.

You may find this a weakness of JI. Because modulation was so important to
European composers in the four hundred years or so before this century,
many of them certainly thought it was a weakness. I, however, find it one
of JI's endearing strengths. Different keys have very different attributes
-- they each become a new "world of sound."

>When Lou Harrison says "Just intonation is the
>best intonation," for what sort of music is he referring to?

I suppose a flip answer would be "his music" or "music he likes." I think
he and a lot of other composers love the crystalline purity of just
intervals. I have talked to other JI composers who ask why composers who
use temperament systems go to such lengths to approximate just intervals
within their systems. Why not just use a just system to begin with? An
answer might be that you want the ability to modulate freely and have it
sound the same. And, of course, there are composers who are not interested
in just intervals to begin with. But, personally, I love the sounds of JI
and don't find it a constraint to my composition at all.

Bill

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)621-8360 (fax) ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^




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I suspect that Neil was refering to the same thing as (Bill Alves was it?),
when Neil said that he usually work with modal music, and when Bill said that
the only limitation with JI (on a fixed number of tones per octave) is making
everything sound the same on all tonal centers.

Neil could perhaps be said to be presenting the microtonal equivalent of the
traditional view of modality. The two are exactly analogous if not exactly
identical: Modulating a melody within a seven-steped diatonic scale without
adding the appropriate chromatics, changes major thirds into minor, producing
the familiar modal feeling change. Similarly, starting with a justly tuned 12
(or whatever) toned scale, and modulating it to another tonal center without
adding additional pitches as needed, will change 5:4s into 81:64s for example.
It's a different sort of feeling change, in that we don't hear major-to-minor
shifts, but it's exactly identical in that we hear shifts between very different
sounding major thirds.


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Sorry folks. Looks like I left out a very critical word in this earlier
posting:


I suspect that Neil was refering to the same thing as (Bill Alves was it?),
when Neil said that he usually doesn't work with modal music, and when Bill
^^^^^^^
said that the only limitation with JI (on a fixed number of tones per octave)
is making everything sound the same on all tonal centers.


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