Harry Partch (1901-1974)
"Delusion of the Fury, A Ritual of Dream and Delusion", musique de scène en un prologue et 2 actes

Ensemble Musikfabrik

Harry Partch (1901-1974) est un de ces « mavericks » américains, libre-penseur et non conformiste, musicien individualiste à l’écart des courants artistiques dominants qui, à partir de sa conception d’une « intonation juste étendue » (fondée sur le renouveau du concept d’accordage acoustiquement pur, qui l’amène à introduire des intervalles plus complexes, pour le jeu desquels il invente et fabrique des instruments adaptés), jette des ponts entre les musiques classique et populaire. C’est dire l’ampleur du projet Delusion of the Fury - A Ritual of Dream and Delusion, dirigé par Heiner Goebbels pour la Ruhrtriennale de 2013 : reconstruire ces instruments extraordinaires, aux formes organiques, visuellement élégantes (le percussionniste Thomas Meixner), apprendre à en jouer (l’Ensemble Musikfabrik), sans compter les éléments purement visuels (costumes, décors, chorégraphie et mise en scène) de cette pièce de théâtre musical, dernière œuvre majeure de Partch, composée entre 1965 et 1966, qui montre un intérêt renouvelé pour les polyrythmies complexes et pour une musique extravertie, avide d’exploiter toutes les ressources instrumentales (le chromelodeon compte 43 tons pour une octave), avec un résultat aussi galvanisant que luxuriant. (Bernard Vincken)

“It was only with Partch that a music began to take shape that could do equal justice to the physical desire for rhythmic pulse and a curiosity for new, unheard sounds; a music that enthralls us despite, or rather, precisely because of its unfamiliarity. A music for which we have no category, and which has no location, and yet in a strange way is grounded.” – Heiner Goebbels The American composer Harry Partch (1901-1974) is considered a pioneer of the Just Intonation movement and was far ahead of his time when he began to explore microtonality. In the course of his life, he not only created a highly complex tonal system, but also designed and built an extensive set of instruments of sculptural beauty and great stage presence for its realisation, the only and original set of which is preserved in the USA. On the occasion of the opening of the Ruhrtriennale 2013 with "Delusion of the Fury", staged by Heiner Goebbels, Harry Partch's entire set of microtonal instruments was reconstructed for the Ensemble Musikfabrik and learned by the musicians. It was only through this enormous reconstruction that performances of Partch's music outside his home country became possible at all. The dance and music theatre "Delusion of the Fury", whose recording by the Ensemble Musikfabrik sets new standards, is considered a key work and musical quintessence in Harry Partch's oeuvre. The extensive booklet documents the extraordinary music theatre production with numerous pictures as well as texts by Heiner Goebbels and Edu Haubensak.