Customer Reviews

Harry Partch: A Biography

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American maverick iconclast composer mythologised his life history in his own lifetime. Astoundingly, there has previously been very little analytical/musicological or biographical information published on this important and unique American composer. McGeary, in Bitter Music, asserted that nothing COULD be known of Partch's early life. We all agreed. We were wrong. Gilmore has, like a private investigator, meticulously followed the trail which has lain below the sand of the American deserts through which Partch trailed. You won't need to be either a music student or particularly interested in Harry Partch to find this book an utterly fascinating account of this still underrated composer, instrument-maker and 'philosophic-music-man'. It stands as a chronicle of the twentieth century American man, a tangent to the mainstream of arts culture, an important contribution to Depression Era art, as well as obviously to contemporary music and just intonation/tuning matters.

I recall Bob dropping by my fathers house in the early 90's to collect things for this book. Little did I know how many of my questions would be answered by this novel. Harry had always been that of a surrogate grandpa figure to me. I was 8 when he died, so alot has gone unanswered ever since.

Being a biography only, it fills you in with what drove Harry to do what he did and all the stumbling blocks encountered along the way (things I have always wondered about).

If you are interested in Harry's musical intsruments, corporeal philosophy, or the tuning set-up he put together, I would suggest getting the book he wrote "Genesis of a Music", sold here at Amazon.

In purchasing Bob's book, you will encounter a path in which a true creative mind was once lead down, unmutilated.....Geordan Mitchell