Composer, theorist, inventor of musical instruments, and one of the most colorful characters of 20th century music, Harry Partch (1901-1974) broke with Western tradition and forged a new music based on a more primal, corporeal integration of the elements of speech, rhythm and performance using the intrinsic music found in the spoken word, the principles of acoustic resonance and just-intonation.
The Seventeen Lyrics of Li Po was composed between 1931 and 1933 and is among Partch's earliest extant compositions. They were composed for Intoning Voice and Partch's Adapted Viola, a hybrid instrument consisting of a cello neck grafted onto the body of a viola, its open strings sounding one octave below the violin. Partch used texts from the eighth century Chinese poet, Li Po.
This is the first recording of all seventeen of Partch's Lyrics of Li Po.