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Lincoln Center Festival Presents Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury

Jul. 01, 2015

Lincoln Center Festival Presents Harry Partch’s <em>Delusion of the Fury</em>

On July 23 and 24, the Lincoln Center Festival presents Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury, a music-theatre tour de force directed by Heiner Goebbels and performed by German new music group Ensemble Musikfabrik.

By the time Harry Partch composed Delusion of the Fury, the great experimenter and tonal explorer had fully developed his highly differentiated scale system for which he designed specialized, unconventional instruments to realize the wonderfully diverse sounds of his imagination. Based on Japanese and African myths, Delusion of the Fury is a work of music-theatre composed for dancers and singing instrumentalists that exists between dreams and madness. Partch integrates the theatrical means of light, movement, and song with the extraordinary presence of his instruments in a theater work with no precise setting and overlapping temporal layers. Crafting a view of a culture that seems strange yet somewhat familiar, Partch drapes a spiritual net that celebrates the reconciliation of the living with death and life.

The ensemble’s engagement with Partch’s music demonstrates a fearless dedication to the work, as Partch calls for the musicians to act also as chorus, mimes and dancers. Director Heiner Goebbels writes:

Before the beginning of the rehearsals I had my doubts, whether one should tell these stories onstage, stories from which Partch spins his 'ritualistic web' as he calls it, stories whose music reduces itself to a minimum of words. But they also contain an archaic dimension, that also appeals to us even in their somewhat symbolic reduction.

Who comes together in order to celebrate this 'dream ritual'? Is it a hippie colony or are they people who are trapped underground and don't really know if they will ever get out, and while away the time with instruments they've made themselves? Perhaps it's about a culture in an undiscovered country. We don't really know where it is. Whoever these people are, they've got something on us: they already know that anger only breeds disappointment and that life is a lot better even with a certain amount of disillusionment.

For tickets and concert information, visit lincolncenterfestival.org.

To learn more about the works of Harry Partch, visit schott-music.com.

Harry Partch
Delusion of the Fury (1965-1966)
A Ritual of Dream and Delusion
text (Eng) by the composer
Small Hand Instruments: Alpha - Ugumbo, copy of a Zulu instrument · Beta - Bolivian double flute · Gamma - Rotating drum · Delta - First waving drum · Phi - Second waving drum · Epsilon - Six bamboo claves · Zeta - First bamboo ceremonial pole · Eta - Second bamboo ceremonial pole · Theta - Third bamboo ceremonial pole · Iota - First pair of eucal claves · Kappa - Second pair of eucal claves · Lambda - Third pair of eucal claves · Psi - Fourth pair of eucal claves · Xi - Thumb piano · Omicron - First belly drum · Pi - Second belly drum · Rho - Gourd drum · Sigma - Fiji rhythm boat · Omega - Gubagubi - 2. Stage Left and Center: Harmonic Canon I · Adapted Guitar I und II · Koto · Kithara I und II · Chromelodeon I and II · Blo-Boy · Castor & Pollux (Harmonic Canon II) · Blue Rainbow (Harmonic Canon III) · Surrogate Kithara · Crychord · Cloud-Chamber-Bowls · Spoils of war · Gourd Tree · Cone Gongs - 3. Stage Right: Mazda Marimba · Zyno-Xyl · Diamond Marimba · Quadrangularis Reversum · Eucal Blossom · Boo (Bamboo Marimba) · Bass Marimba · Marimba Eroica · Bass Drum
voices: soprano, tenor/baritone, bass and chorus
75’ 

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