source file: mills2.txt Date: Sat, 9 Mar 1996 07:34:37 -0800 Subject: Partch CDs From: "Adam B. Silverman" John Pusey asked about us informing the list about new Partch CDs, and I realized that nobody (as far as I can remember) has reviewed the Partch "Enclosure #2" CD set. For those of you who do not know, this is a collection of Partch tunes, mainly culled from old recordings which have been previously unavailable commercially. I will not review this, but with fear of putting my foot in my mouth, I feel compelled to voice a complaint. Amidst the wonderful pieces which I had never previously heard, such as "Dark Brother" and "Settings from Finnegan's Wake", is an amateur reading of "Bitter Music". The booklet notes disclaim "There is some debate as to whether "Bitter Music" should still exist, let alone be heard in public". My complaint is not about whether the manuscript should have been destroyed (I cherish my book), but I think that we should all be concerned with setting only QUALITY performances of his music before the public. Perhaps it was ego-serving to include such a performance in a CD of "historical" performances. I think that I should not have been included in CDs at all. Buy the book, find a piano that you haven't retuned yet, and play it yourself for maximum benefit. My suggestion, if you have not yet heard the disc, is to order one immediately, and put all four CDs in yout player. Use the program button to select all of the tracks EXCEPT for "Bitter Music", and while you're at it, "Harry's Wake". Although I never met Partch, I like to remember him without the cognac. New Partch CDs are not all bitter music, though--Ted Mook and Stephen Kalm released an excellent CD of "Li Po" this year! Truly a living and intonationally sensitive performance. Adam Received: from sun4nl.NL.net [193.78.240.1] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sat, 9 Mar 1996 21:45 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by sun4nl.NL.net with SMTP id AA27820 (5.65b/CWI-3.3); Sat, 9 Mar 1996 21:41:12 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id LAA08045; Sat, 9 Mar 1996 11:52:58 -0800 Date: Sat, 9 Mar 1996 11:52:58 -0800 Message-Id: <199603091948.EAA25668@inetnif.niftyserve.or.jp> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu