HARRY PARTCH oedipus LP 1962 avant experimental original gate 5 cage fluxus

$

60

Harry Partch with Allan Louw “Oedipus" LP issued by the Harry Partch’s Gate 5 Records (Issue D) in the US, 1962. ****** Rec:vg / Cov:vg ****** Very rare private pressing on Harry Partch's Gate 5 imprint, released sometime in the early 60's in very limited quantities and being thus sought after by collectors worldwide. Ritual like music blending microtonal, ancient greek and oriental influences in addition to Harry Partch's unique homemade instruments. “Oedipus “ is the  the culmination of Partch’s Speech-Music period and Partch considered this his most important work (it took 19 years to write). From the late 1930s onward, after living as a transient hobo, Harry Partch developed instruments based on his own revolutionary tuning theories (considered the first in the field since Pythagoras). He composed in isolation within the musical universe he created, but he blazed the same trails as Alois Haba, Julian Carrillo, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, and Charles Ives, drew from percussive eastern music such as gamelan, American folk, Native American, and African music, Hebrew and Christian hymns, and "lumber yards and junk shops," and would become influential to John Cage, Steve Reich, Lou Harrison, La Monte Young, Ben Johnston, Easley Blackwood, Glenn Branca, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, John Eaton, James Tenney, Rhys Chatham, Tony Conrad, and others from the avant garde; his instruments relate to the 'Structures Sonores' of Bernard and Francois Baschet and the sound sculptures and homemade instruments of Harry Bertoia, Max Neuhaus, Z'ev, Donald Knaack, Paul Panhuysen, and Bill Fontana. Some of his invented and self-built instruments include the Zymo-Xyl, Crychord, Surrogate Kithara, Chromelodeon II, Koto, Mazda Marimba, Cloud-Chamber Bowls, Diamond Marimba, Kithara I+II, Bloboy, Spoils of War, Harmonic Cannon I, Marimba Eroica, Castor and Pollux, Adapted Guitar II, Drone Devils, Gubagubi, Blue Rainbow, Gourd Tree, and Cone Gongs. Harry Partch distributed these recordings as a means both to disseminate his music and produce funding for sustaining his activities. As he said on the back of the albums (which went for the princely sum of $6.50, no domestic mailing charges): "This price is not intended to compete with those in record shops. Each purchaser helps to ensure that the work of Harry Partch will continue. Gate 5 Records is an endeavor initiated and, to date, carried on by one person, with the generous help of many”. The name Gate 5 was not picked out of a hatful of the most unlikely names for application to a work place, ensemble, or record label, although there are probably worse ways. During the Second World War Sausalito -- on San Francisco Bay -- became the site of one of those feverishly built shipyards, and upon termination of the war the property went into private hands. The shipyard had five gates, and the sign: Gate 5, was still to be seen when Harry Partch moved his instruments into a building previously used by the Army at the entrance to it. After the war, a number of people took over converted ferries, barges, and houses on stilts in this area, which is known locally as Gate 5. There is also a Gate 5 bus stop. Beyond the prosaic fact that Partch lived, wrote music, built instruments, organized and rehearsed ensembles, and manufactured records here, there is the more intriguing circumstance that Gate 5 carries an occult meaning in sundry ancient mythologies. In ancient pictographs the city, center of culture, has four pedestrian gates. These are tangible; they can be seen; physical entrances can be shown. But the city also has a fifth gate, which cannot be shown because it is not tangible, and can be entered only in a metaphysical way. This is the gate to illusion. Harry Partch was born on Jun 24, 1901 in Oakland, California. Partch is renowned as one of the 20th century’s most innovative American classical composers. He was one of the first composers in that century to extensively work with microtonal scales, which he wrote exclusively for his custom-made instruments that he built himself. Both of Partch’s parents were Presbyterian missionaries that lived in China and fled that region of the world after the Boxer Rebellion. His family relocated to Oakland, California where Partch was born. Partch’s parents continued to live as missionaries, which resulted in the family relocating numerous times throughout Partch’s childhood, often in small remote towns located in Arizona, California, and New Mexico. In these small, isolated parts of the country Partch was exposed to various cultures and their music. Partch began to compose music at an early age using standard western tunings. However, he became frustrated by the limited structure of these tunings and began to develop his own methods of tuning which he performed on instruments that he created himself. Partch composed numerous operas, concertos, and various other musical projects using his tunings and instruments exclusively. In the late 1950’s Partch started his own record label, Gate 5 Records, to release recordings of his works and to generate income. Near the end of his life Columbia Records made recordings of his work which resulted in his music being exposed to a wider audience. Partch died on September 3, 1974 in San Diego, California. ****** Liner notes in English. ****** Some sleeve and ring wear (see photos). Normal wear for a record issued in 1962 i guess. Very solid sleeve with perfect seams and spine! ****** Some surface noise, maybe possible to clean the record. No hairlines, no scratches! ****** Please wait to receive my invoice before sending the payment after the auction ends. Attention! Real postage costs are not USD 4 as all the items are located in Doha, Qatar (which has a very safe and professional post system). Postage costs registered for the first LP is USD 22,50 for the whole world. ****** Thank you for your kind attention and good luck with your bids.