It has taken 41 years, but you can finally put a Witch between your ears.
In January of 1980, a large portion of Harry Partch’s unique instruments landed in Berlin to open the eyes and ears of Europe to his vision. The vehicle for this was a new production of “The Bewitched”, under the musical direction of long-time Partch associate Danlee Mitchell and stage direction by Kenneth Gaburo. The San Diego ensemble that had been performing since 1972’s “The Dreamer That Remains” had been preparing the production for six months and had previewed it a month before… and then crated up the instruments for the long trip.
I’ll leave more of the story (below) to Philip Blackburn, who has now released - in his new position at Neuma Records - a recording that was done in Berlin but only recently unearthed. As Philip notes, this is a binaural recording: to do it justice, you really want to listen with headphones to capture the ambience of the moment and the room. As such, it is a unique document of the production; I don’t for a moment suggest it competes with the live recording done a few days later in Koln, but an undeniably interesting perspective! Info on ordering is to be found after Mr. Blackburn’s notes on the release. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for a surprise element, as well!
Here’s one that I never thought would see the light of day, and one of the most corporeal outings for HP in the decades. Consider it.
Scene from Harry Partch’s The Bewitched - Berlin New Music Festival, 1980
“Dramatic moments of enlightenment – when the mask is dropped and truth revealed – are found in tales from the Buddha and Euripides to Scooby Doo and Star Wars. And few artists have been as fascinated by niggling the clueless or deflating the stuck-up as Harry Partch (1901-1974). As a lifelong outsider, the conformist society he experienced and the narrow-minded attitudes (not to mention musical delusions) that permeated it, are themes to which he often returned. In the 1950s, seeing a world that could use a good dose of reality, he hit upon the idea of a witch who would go around scenes of everyday American life, and, wielding her ancient magical powers, deliver a much-needed smiting of self-awareness. Harry would write the ‘background music’ for them.”
“With a real-life chorus of lost musicians at his disposal (renegade players from the Bay Area, disillusioned by their regular gigs, who would show up at his Gate 5 studio in Sausalito to hang loose and play his instruments), he had the basis of The Bewitched (A Ballet Satire). The set ups for the denouements occur in ten scenes covering a soap opera’s range of episodes: students out for an exotic club night, a dreary music class, a smarmy seducer, a new-music fan, a losing basketball team taking a hot shower, first kissers in a stairwell, slapstick detectives, a judge in his court, a politician in paradise with the scandalous houris, and a cocktail party of the fashionable elite. You get the idea. It’s a good dose of fun with a serious intent. The musicians themselves also participate in the psychological stripteases, united by the common bond of music, conjuring their collective energy before disappearing again.”
“Only produced a few times since its premiere in Illinois in 1957, this 1980 production on his original set of instruments, directed by Danlee Mitchell, was the first Partch work to be taken abroad (in a radical production conceived by Kenneth Gaburo). It was the centerpiece of the huge Für Augen und Öhren, Berlin Festival, in West Germany, and took place in the Academy of Arts, a few feet from the Berlin Wall (repression, anyone?). An outfit from the RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) came to record the performance with a binaural head microphone setup. This recording (best heard on headphones) therefore most closely represents the experience of an audience member at a live Partch event, featuring the natural acoustic balance of the instruments, occasionally punctuated by coughs of the packed audience, dancers’ footsteps, and flying basketballs. All generating the rare Corporeal magic that fuels the power of much-needed perception.”
~ Philip Blackburn
The new release of “The Bewitched” is available through Neuma Records and at Amazon, currently in CD format, with a digital edition on April 16. Note that the Neuma page has additional information, including a video/film that has also been discovered by Philip. He edited and titled a portion of the existing footage, but for another extra bit, take a look here to see the footage as originally discovered. Note that it should be cued up to the 8:00 mark, and what you’ll see are a few moments of solo shots of the instrumentalists, followed by Scene 3 of The Bewitched. I can tell you, honestly, that it is surreal to see yourself playing, 41 years after the fact. Enjoy.
~ Jon Szanto