Ingar Zach & Ensemble Musikfabrik

A great Norwegian improvising percussionist saddles up and rides the fantastical invented instruments of US composer Harry Partch.

Germany’s Ensemble Musikfabrik have brought their authentic replicas of Partch’s instruments several times to Ultima. 

This new work came into being when Norwegian improvising percussionist Ingar Zach (SOFA label) approached them with a desire to collaborate. Musikfabrik actively open up their Harry Partch collection of instruments, such as the Kithara, Cloud chamber bowls, Harmonic canon and Eroica zither, to be explored and extended by external collaborators. 

In Parts of the Horse Are Notably Present, Zach will combine his own acoustic journey around Partch’s extraordinary sound world, with his own percussion objects and techniques (including handheld electric fans brushing the surfaces), plus some of the Ensemble’s traditional classical instruments. The horse of the title has a metaphorical dimension for Zach, who comments: ‘There is something about the music that has come out of this that makes me think of prairies and open landscapes.’