Harry Partch / Ensemble Musikfabrik
»Greatest Hits« / Festival for Contemporary Music
In the mid-20th century the American composer and inventor Harry Partch was one of the first to try to release music from its traditional system. To be able to reproduce the melody of a spoken voice on musical instruments, for example, he took a special interest in intermediate tones. From 1923 onwards, he developed a system with 43 tonal steps per octave instead of the usual 12, and set about building the instruments needed to perform his works. The Cologne ensemble Musikfabrik now follows in the composer’s footsteps with faithful copies of the legendary Partch instruments, and introduces his music to present-day audiences.
In addition to an original composition by Harry Partch, the ensemble presents brand-new works in the same spirit, contributed by Danish installation artist and composer Simon Steen-Andersen, the Swedish pop musician Helge Sten and Berlin DJ and techno producer Phillip Sollmann.
From 1 to 4 November, the »Greatest Hits« festival presents contemporary music at Kampnagel and the Elbphilharmonie. The focus this year is on the composers Gérard Grisey und Harry Partch. The latter was a contemporary of Arnold Schönberg and Aaron Copland; in the desert near San Diego Parch developed his own tuning system with home-made instruments which feature in many of the festival concerts.
Performers
Ensemble Musikfabrik
Paul Jeukendrup sound
Thomas Wegner sound assistant
Lukas Becker Lichtregie
Michael Kleine Lichtregie
Programme
Harry Partch
Ring Around the Moon / A Dance Fantasm for Here and Now für Partch Instrumente und Stimme
Simon Steen-Andersen
Korpus für neun Spieler an drei Partch-Instrumenten
Helge Sten
Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth für Partch-Instrumente
– Interval –
Phillip Sollmann
Monophonie für Harry-Partch-Instrumente, Bertoia-Klangskulpturen und Hermann von Helmholtz´ Doppelsirene
Estimated end time
22:30
Festival
Greatest Hits