Harry Partch - The Wayward (Partch Ensemble)

Information

Composer: Harry Partch

1. Barstow
2. San Francisco
3. The Letter
4. U.S. Highball
5. Ulysses at the Edge
6. Ulysses at the Edge (Improv Version) (Bonus Track Version)

Partch Ensemble

Date: 2025

Label: Bridge Records

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Bridge Records releases the newest album by the Grammy-winning Partch Ensemble, dedicated to the music and unique instruments of American maverick composer Harry Partch. The recording features the world premiere of Partch’s complete cycle The Wayward, which the composer described as “a collection of musical compositions based on the spoken and written words of hobos and other characters—the result of my wanderings in the Western United States from 1935 to 1941.” This landmark release highlights both Partch’s inventive sound world and the ensemble’s commitment to preserving his radical artistic legacy.

Harry Partch (1901–1974) was an American composer, instrument builder, and visionary innovator. Mostly self-taught, he developed a 43-tone scale and created unique instruments with individual notations, including the boo (bamboo marimba), marimba eroica, cloud-chamber bowls, and mazda marimba. His early works drew on texts from his Depression-era hobo travels, while later compositions reflected mythological and ritual themes. Major works include Oedipus, Plectra and Percussion Dances, The Bewitched, and the vast And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell on Petaluma. Partch pioneered experimental theatre, wrote The Genesis of a Music (1949), and received recognition from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1966.

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