2012 Grammy Nominee: Best Classical Compendium
It is an astonishing gift of fate when a creative artist, known to the world for a particular achievement, is suddenly shown in a quite different light thanks to the existence of a single document that has somehow escaped the ruthless culling mechanisms of time. Harry Partch?s Bitter Music is such a document, a "diary of eight months spent in transient shelters and camps, hobo jungles, basement rooms, and on the open road". This long-lost journal of Harry Partch's wanderings during the Great Depression (from cleaning sewers to having tea with Irish poet W. B. Yeats) is an extraordinary musical portrait of an American pioneer, chronicling his occasionally hilarious and often heartbreaking struggles to forge a new music system outside the classical tradition. This premiere recording of Bitter Music takes the form of readings and collected musical fragments- an aural diary of what was going through Partch's mind and ear during a critical period in his artistic development.
Reviews:
“This is a valuable addition to the Parch legacy, and will certainly be of interest to anyone interested in historical mementos of the Depression.” - American Record Guide
“Both musical and narrative performances are expertly and evocatively executed.” - International Record Review
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Performed by Partch:
John Schneider, voice, adapted viola, adapted guitar
Gary Eister, voice, piano
Richard Valitutto, piano
Paul West, kithara
includes Harry Partch speaking about Bitter Music
BRIDGE 9349A/C (three discs for the price of two)