Continuing our dedicated archival series of lost and hard to find experimental/jazz/avant-garde music the Cacophonic series presents our maiden voyage into a short run of radical theatrical performance music comprising electronic ballet scores, vanguard mimes and art installation soundtracks. This remastered reissue of The Bewitched is an important collector’s edition of a pioneering work of conceptual composition for mime and dance from self-taught and multi-disciplined American luminary Harry Partch.
Based around the central character of a witch (vocalist Freda Schell-Pierce) this LP presents an early example of the unique aesthetic and social commentaries of Partch whose homebuilt and designed instruments would redefine scales as well as song structures and would progressively provide modern Western composition with some of the most idiosyncratic, beguiling and challenging music and sound poetry ever committed to vinyl. Originally pressed on his own Gate 5 imprint, this remastered vinyl issue is an exact facsimile of the rarest abridged edition of the original 1957 performance capturing Partch’s own ‘Chorus Of Lost Musicians’ – combining traditional kotos and marimbas alongside unique instruments such as the Chromelodeon and the Harmonic Canon. Subtitled as ‘A Dance Satire’ The Bewitched is housed in stunning seldom seen artwork including rare documents and photographs.
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