Partch performs Castor & Pollux by Harry Partch

PRISM Quartet, Inc. Presents COLOR THEORY PRISM Quartet and Partch (East Coast Debut) June 12, 2016 Roulette 509 Atlantic Ave • Brooklyn, NY Partch Erin Barnes: diamond marimba Alison Bjorkedal: kithara, “Castor“ canon Matt Cook: surrogate kithara, “Pollux“ canon David Johnson: cloud chamber bowls, chromelodeon John Schneider: harmonic “Castor“ canon, adapted viola Nick Terry: bass marimba, cloud chamber bowls T. J. Troy: bass marimba CASTOR & POLLUX (1952) by Harry Partch (1901 – 1974) A Dance for the Twin Rhythms of Gemini CASTOR, Leda and the Swan 1. Insemination 2. Conception 3. Incubation 4. Delivery POLLUX, Leda and the Swan 1. Insemination 2. Conception 3. Incubation 4. Delivery Perhaps the only ‘triple exposure’ in music history, Partch called this infectious dance music, “A tribute to the twin stars of luck. Atonal-dynamic dithyramb. A ritualistic ecstasy…In Castor each of the first three sections requires pairs of different instruments and dancers, all three of which have identical measure patterns, but not necessarily the same rhythms. Number 4, then, is the total of these, played and danced simultaneously. Thus, three different compositions become one composition—the “Delivery,” the logical result and the sum total of the factors that make it inevitable. Pollux follows the same plan: Numbers 5, 6, and 7 combined to result in Number 8.” Harry Partch (1901-1974) is the iconoclastic American Maverick composer who, between 1930 and 1972, created one of the most amazing bodies of sensually alluring and emotionally powerful music of the 20th century. Partch wrote music drama, dance theater, multi-media extravaganzas, vocal music, and chamber music—all to be performed on the extraordinary orchestra of instruments that he designed and built himself. The Great Depression forced Partch to spend many years as a transient. It was during these years that he collected the texts and experiences that would later form the basis for The Wayward, a collection of musical compositions based on the spoken and written words of hobos and other characters. To obtain COLOR THEORY featuring PRISM Quartet and Partch, please visit