Partch, Bach and Blues

Shostakovich and Britten are two recent examples of musicians who
are known to have worked out very large works in their heads. Also,
many of DS's Preludes and Fugues were written one a day. Perhaps they
even deserve comparison with Father Bach; but for many of us, I think,
Bach's amazing facility is to some degree accessible, and what is more
miraculous is his unflagging vitality within a narrow system. He would
probably have been terrific playing blues, which Neil Haverstick calls a
"very tough art form."

In which perhaps Bach shares something with Partch. I never saw him
in live performance, but from listening to the maelstroms he put on
disk, I'd bet that Partch's personal focus in performance was musically
more satisfying than his theories. Which is to say (and I'm just
guessing), I think Partch thought everything out very convolutedly
ahead of time, but when he was actually performing, I'll bet what he
did was improvise within fairly predicted limits.

The professional cocktail-piano player has much in common, I think,
with the ordinary Baroque working musician. I've known many such
players, and was one myself, for a couple of years, in a very
modest way. The fake book provides access to what is for many
audiences a complete known universe of music, and the cocktail player
has easily within his grasp the ability to play a credible version of
almost everything that exists (within that world). Many players also
know one or two Chopins and a simplified "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring,"
to satisfy the occasional request for something classy. The sad truth
is that many cocktail musicians are bored to tears. Absolute technical
control of a sophisticated system is not enough.



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