source file: mills2.txt


Subject: Individual Partch

From: "Jonathan M. Szanto" <jszanto@adnc.com>

Tunesmiths (re: Digest 815),

- Neil - Don't worry, Neil, I never expected everyone to agree.  I sometimes
wonder in a case like this: is the argument not compelling, or am I a poor
communicator (since I don't feel that writing is my forte)?  Elitism?  I
think many of us have different definitions for that word.  And as for "I
feel it's safe to say": I am living proof, over the last few weeks, that it
is rarely *safe* to say.  Anyone remember Sir Larry Olivier in "Marathon
Man" asking Dustin Hoffman: "Is it safe?".

=====

- Enrique - Great analysis; you managed to whittle down to some of the
essences. I would only make these brief responses...

1) Optimally, yes.
2) Yes, by induction.
3)
a) I don't think I have talked much about recordings. I believe they serve
as documentation, therefore if they document a dilution of Partch (read:
transcription), then they document that dilution; if they document a valid
performance, then they do just that, but are a poor substitute for a live
performance.
b) Yes.
c) Certainly.
d) In league with a).
e) I haven't ruled this out, have I?  When I win the next California Lotto,
I will personally fund as many duplicate Ensembles as I can.
4. Key phrase you use: "as the composer intended", which to me is of
paramount importance. A true sense?  Probably, with recordings and videos
giving but a taste of the total picture.
5. The $64,000 question...  I just *know* that somewhere, someone is
thinking that I am the Dr. Kevorkian of Partchiana.  In my youth, I espoused
a truly non-committal view of this.  I am pondering alternatives, though
none have cropped up just yet (see Lotto reference).
6. What about the fumes? Partch repair-persons getting high on the job,
having kids with 7 arms (makes playing those wicked Chromelodeon parts
easier...) -- where will it all end?  (Is the 'plastics' another reference
to Dustin Hoffman, in "The Graduate"?)

Thanks for making me feel totally inadequate, posting in from CCRMA <g>!

=====

- Bruce - Interesting thoughts on the recordings/transcriptions idea.  The
kicker was your last "won't solve the corporeality problem"; that does it
for me.  I would like to see the entire body of work represented in
documentary form (i.e. recording, video, etc.) in terms of preservation.  It
would certainly allow knowledgable listeners the choice - "Ain't nothing
like the real thing, baby...".  (Man, we have *got* to get Sony to
re-release the 2 Columbia albums)  Thanks for your thoughts on visiting the
instruments at SDSU.  This was the atmosphere that most anyone felt during
their time out here in San Diego <s>.  And what synth version of "Yankee"?

=====

Thanks, all.  Education, online...
Cheers,
Jon
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   Jonathan M. Szanto   | Come visit Corporeal Meadows . . . . . . . .
 Backbeats & Interrupts | . . . . . our little tribute to Harry Partch
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