The excellent Ensemble Musikfabrik from Cologne premiered this version of Partch’s groundbreaking piece in 2013, under direction of Heiner Goebbels. It was the first time that it was performed in Europe.

A unique figure in 20th century music, Harry Partch was a self-taught composer who stood outside the American musical tradition, mostly following an individual path. Delusion of the Fury (1965-66) is Partch’s masterpiece. He composed his music almost exclusively for a wonderful array of fascinating custom-made instruments most of which have specific tunings and which as well as being playable instruments are also valued as sculptures, like his Gourd Tree for instance, a strange, curved desert tree of which the fruits are tuned calabashes. Partch also developed his own tonal system based on just intonation, in which every octave consisted not of 12 equal intervals – as on a modern piano – but 43 small intervals of differing sizes. Partch’s idiosyncratic use of microtones makes his music difficult to perform; without the right instruments, it becomes impossible. As the original instruments were either very fragile or inaccessible, a creative solution had to be found to resolve this problem. Led by percussionist and musical instrument maker Thomas Meixner, all the instruments that were needed were replicated. The musicians of Ensemble musikFabrik took a whole year to master the unorthodox techniques required, gaining an impressively ‘natural’ mastery of Partch’s instruments.

No Time or Place

Delusion of the Fury consists of two parts, preceded by a prologue and intersected by an interlude. The first part is loosely based on a theme from the Japanese noh theatre, the second is based on an Ethiopian legend, but Partch has pointed out that the performance is neither set in a specific time nor in a specific place, both myths being no more than a point of departure from which to create – Partch claimed the privilege to appropriate elements from foreign cultures to use for his own objectives. With the exception of the koto, a Japanese zither, the universe of sounds of Delusion of the Fury is not bound by time or place.

In the first part the action revolves around a confrontation between a murderer and the ghost of his victim; in the second part, a deaf tramp is caught up in a misunderstanding with a group of villagers. The parts are played without any breaks, the titles of each scene indicated by a spooky motel neon sign in the background.

Tracklist

Exordium
1. The Beginning of a Web

ACT 1 On a Japanese Theme
2. Chorus of Shadows
3. The Pilgrimage
4. Emergence of the Spirit
5. A Son in Search of his Father’s Face
6. Cry from another Darkness
7. Pray for me
8. Sanctus – An Entr’ace

ACT 2 On an African Theme
9. The Quiet Hobo Meal
10. The lost kid
11. Time of Fun Together
12. The Misunderstanding
13. Arrest, Trial, and Judgement
14. Pray for me again – A Strange Fear!

This recording was produced and released in 2022.