The Reply, Part Two: Whither Harry...

Ye tuning folks -

Onward with my discussion of Mr. McLaren's post from Digest 778, now
concerning the "Li Po" recording...

> Now, 1 of the performances about which members of the British Harry
> Partch Society had questions was a recording done by Ted Mook and a
> professional singer. This is the first CD appearance of Partch's Li
> Po Songs, and the first new recording in more than half a century
> (to my knowledge). I think it's fantastic that someone had the time,
> the energy, and the dedication to record Partch's Li Po Songs.

So do I. I am pleased to have Ted and Stephen's version on my shelf, and
ocasionally, in my CD player.

> So what if the recording doesn't sound like Harry Partch? Harry
> himself pointed out that he was far from an ideal vocalist. In places
> Harry's pitch wanders as much as 20 to 30 cents from the target notes,
> as Ted Mook has pointed out.

Welllll, it doesn't sound like Harry, and in that respect it doen't
matter (more about vocal style in a minute...). And, yeah, Harry was all
over the map when he sang, which he probably knew when he sang it, so if
the 'notes' are what we are about, then it is good that we have the new
version to listen to.

> Partch was under pressure when he made his recording, he didn't have
> adequate time or opportunity to rehearse and certainly didn't have
> access to the enormously helpful digital pitch references we have
> today.

Where on Earth did Mr. McLaren get these tidbits? I have never heard of
any anecdotal material detailing Harry's state of mind or amount of prep
time leading up to the earlier recordings. If there is a source for
this, of course, I will consider it; I have a suspicion that this is,
um, not true. And, yes, Harry did not have tuners and references; he
just sang the songs he wrote.

> In short, Partch did the best he could at performing his Li Po Songs
> on that old 78 rpm record, but Partch just wasn't a professional
> singer. Ted Mook's project uses a professional singer, and to my
> mind the results are neither better nor worse than the original Partch
> recordings--they are *different.*

Completely agree, except for the use of 'professional singer'. How about
if we substitute 'a singer trained in the European art song/opera school
of technique'? Please - I don't mean this directly as a criticism, and
Mr. Kalm's vocal abilities are wonderful. My point is: Placido Domingo,
Tom Waits and Perry Como [insert your favorites here...] are all
'professional' singers. The only thing I'll offer is that the tradition
that Stephen Kalm comes from (stylistcally speaking) is the same "tight
coat and tight shoes" tradition that Harry abhored, and this is where
true die-hards might have a problem, his vibrato had me worried at first.
I expected to NOT like Ted and Steve's Excellent Adventure; they made a
believer out of me.

I think I'll stop here; the next topic, the Krono "Barstow" has a lot of
stuff to relate, and in the meantime people are coming out of the
woodwork to smack me for my thoughts. Cool. BTW, I am getting the list
in Digest form, so I am not *real* sure as to the best way to respond to
people. I've emailed Madole, but if anyone else has suggestions, let me
know.

I hope this is a healthy discussion, with much more light than heat; I
hold no illusions as to how many will be swayed (or interested...).

Yours in harmony,
Jon
jszanto@adnc.com


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