Cloud Chamberlain

 

PARTCH Ensemble - Cloud Chamber Music


The last post for June is here, celebrating a figure I've always admired.

Long ago I got to see a performance of his music, performed entirely on his own instruments, and it was a life changer for me.

Born in 1901, he spent 73 years doing the thing his own way, with not a trace of compromise in evidence.

Perhaps the most iconoclastic musical personality of the 20th Century, he abandoned traditional Western tunings and instruments and opted to create a vast, vibrant universe of his own without those millstones around his proverbial neck.

Maybe it was that he was out and gay in the 1920s. Maybe he was a Gamelan Master reincarnated. Maybe he was just a mad visionary. Maybe it was all three, and/or more.

His instruments get played all over the world -- I bet he'd love that -- what with this PARTCH Ensemble group keeping his spirit alive like they do.

To describe the music of Harry Partch in words is nearly impossible, so I won't try. OK, maybe I'll try just a little.

To say that he created his own palette and his own canvas is a wretched understatement, something I'm not known for I know.

If I had to say what it was, I'd say it was Just Intonated Hobo Pastiche... almost like miniature operas narrated by the itinerant and populated with the totally individuated timbres of Cloud Chamber Bowls, the Kithara and all his other, otherworldly gear.

When I was his age in that picture, I got free tickets to see a performance of the Harry Partch instrument set -- this was back in the 1980s, before there was a dedicated group taking Partch music all over the world -- in downtown NYC, and I did not hesitate.

I don't think I ever thought about music the same way after that evening.

Speaking of evenings, here's that very same PARTCH Ensemble storming Los Angeles' tremendous REDCAT theater space a little while back, armed to the teeth with Chromelodeons galore, and those Spoils Of War.

PARTCH Ensemble
REDCAT 2023
Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre
Los Angeles, California USA
6.16+17.2023

01 Cloud Chamber Music (1950)
John Schneider - Adapted Guitar III & voice
Derek Stein - Adapted Viola & voice
Nick Terry - Bass Marimba
Tim Feeney - Cloud Chamber Bowls
Alison Bjorkedal - Kithara I, Deer Hooves Rattle & voice
Erin Barnes - Diamond Marimba

02 Amateur California Prune Picker (Kyle Gann, 2022)
Erin Barnes - Diamond Marimba
Daniel Corral - Spoils of War
Dustin Donahue - Bass Marimba
Tim Feeney - Cloud Chamber Bowls
Aron Kallay - Chromelodeon
Derek Stein - Adapted Viola
Nick Terry - Gourd Tree

03 The Wayward, Part One: Barstow - 8 Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing Near Barstow, California (1941/68)
1. Today I Am a Man   
2. Gentlemen   
3. Considered Pretty
4. A Very Good Idea 
5. Possible Rides
6. Jesus Was God In the Flesh
7. You Lucky Women
8. Why In Hell Did You Come?
Erin Barnes - Diamond Marimba
Alison Bjorkedal - Kithara I, Deer Hooves Rattle & voice
Daniel Corral - voice
Aron Kallay - Chromelodeon
John Schneider - voice
Derek Stein - voice
Nick Terry - Boo
Alex Wand - Surrogate Kithara & voice

04 The Wayward, Part Two: San Francisco - A Setting of the Cries of Two Newsboys On a Foggy Night In the Twenties (1943/55)
Alison Bjorkedal - Kithara I
Aron Kallay - Chromelodeon
John Schneider - voice
Derek Stein - cello
Nick Terry - voice

05 The Wayward, Part Three: The Letter (1943/55)
Alison Bjorkedal - Kithara I
Dustin Donahue - Bass Marimba
Tim Feeney - Canon & voice
John Schneider - voice
Derek Stein - cello
Alex Wand - Surrogate Kithara & voice

06 The Wayward, Part Four: U.S. Highball (1943/55)
Erin Barnes - Diamond Marimba, Spoils of War & voice
Paul Berkolds - voice
Alison Bjorkedal - Kithara I & voice
Dustin Donahue - Bass Marimba & voice
Tim Feeney - Cloud Chamber Bowls, Canon & voice
Aron Kallay - Chromelodeon
John Schneider - Cloud Chamber Bowls, Canon, BloBoy & voice
Nick Terry - Boo & voice
Alex Wand - Surrogate Kithara & voice

07 The Wayward, Part Five: Ulysses At the Edge of the World (1955/62)
Erin Barnes - Diamond Marimba & voice
Dustin Donahue - Bass Marimba & voice
Tim Feeney - Cloud Chamber Bowls
Dan Rosenboom - trumpet
John Schneider - voice
Nick Terry - Boo & voice
Brian Walsh - baritone saxophone

08 Three Dances (1952)
1. Samba: A Decent and Honorable Mistake
2. Heartbeat Rhythm: Rhythm of the Womb/Melody of the Grave
3. Afro-Chinese Minuet: Happy Birthday to You!
Erin Barnes - Diamond Marimba
Alison Bjorkedal - Kithara I
Tim Feeney - Bass Marimba & Canons
Dustin Donahue - Bass Marimba
Vicki Ray - Chromelodeon
John Schneider - guitars & Canons
Derek Stein - Adapted Viola
Nick Terry - Cloud Chamber Bowls & Bass Marimba
Alex Wand - Canons

Total time: 1:16:14
Track 08 is a bonus track from REDCAT, Los Angeles CA 6.14.2024
all compositions by Harry Partch unless otherwise noted

audio extracted from a series of 4K, Super HD YouTube videos @ The PARTCH Ensemble YT channel 
spectral analysis is lossless past 20k, making this equivalent to a preFM source
converted to 16/44 CD Audio, edited, tracked & remastered by EN, June 2025
375 MB FLAC/direct link

That will do it for me for June. I'll return July 4th to drop the heaviest Stone ever, right on your heads.

Don't miss out on Harry Partch -- born this day back in 1901 in where else but Oakland, California, and 124 today -- though. He will put you in touch with your inner Dreamer That Remains.--J.

6.24.1901 - 9.3.1974