Who is he?

In 1930, Harry Partch made a decision that changed his life forever. Raised in a one-horse frontier town in Arizona - and having heard a cacophony of strange sounds from passing outlaws, including Chinese lullabies, Christian hymns and Catonese music hall numbers - the young composer grew frustrated by Western music's 12-note structure, instead obsessing on the notes between the notes. In an attempt to break free of the 'tyranny of the piano scale', 29-year-old Partch took all the quartets, concertos and symphonic poems he'd written over the past 14 years and burnt them, torching his musical past and starting all over again.