In stock
LP
James TENNEY
“Postal Pieces”
The first ever vinyl release to attend to James Tenney's legendary "Postal Pieces", marking the first ever appearance of five of the suite's works on vinyl, drawing upon recordings made in 2003, by the Amsterdam based ensemble, The Barton Workshop, under the direction of James Fulkerson.
Among the most important and highly regarded efforts in Tenney's canon of compositions, as well as within the history of 20th Century music, these five pieces represent a crucial bridge between Fluxus-oriented conceptualism, minimalism, and the microtonal complexities that would emerge in their wakes. Issued in a highly limited vinyl edition of 300 copies, it includes exact replicas of the original postcard graphic scores, and features newly commissioned liner notes by Bradford Bailey, Blume's brand new edition takes great steps to centring Tenney at the eye the storm during some of experimental music's most important years.
"The Postal Pieces" stands among Tenney's well known and celebrated compositions, and illuminates the dualities embraced by the composer, notably his use of sound to develop consciousness in and of others, and his willingness to draw on elements and observations of everyday life; citing his strong dislike of writing letters as being the primary inspiration for their inception. In lieu, he conceived to send his friends—John Bergamo, Alison Knowles, Pauline Oliveros, La Monte Young, Harold Budd, Philip Corner, Joel Krosnick, Buell Neidlinger, Susan Allen, Max Neuhaus, and Malcolm Goldstein—short scores on the back of postcards. The suite is composed around three themes: Tenney's concept of swell form (utilizing repetition and progressing through a structurally symmetrical arch), intonation, and the desire to produce "meditative perceptual states".
James Tenney's "Post Pieces" is issued in a highly limited vinyl edition of 300 copies, which includes a exact replicas of the original postcard graphic scores, and features newly commissioned liner notes by Bradford Bailey.
25,00€
Out of stock
CD
James TENNEY
“Selected works 1961 – 1969”
“A collection of pioneering computer works by American Icon Tenney which includes the celebrated ur-plunderphonic piece Collage No.1 (Blue Suede).The music on the rest of the CD - like much computer music - is rather bloodless; an exception being the hurricane of sound that is Fabric for Chè. For those concerned with the early history of electronic music this is a useful CD, for those with a more general interest, the two pieces above and the 6 minute Music for Player Piano remain significant early works.”
15,00€
Out of stock
2 CD
James TENNEY
“Postal pieces”
James Tenney (b. 1934) is one of the most important American composers and theorists of the past fifty years. For a very long time, his work was known mainly to other musicians and its tremendous influence was belied by its obscurity. In the past twenty years, however, as his music and writings have been more and more published, recorded, performed, and studied, his place in the context of American contemporary music has become far better understood. He has pioneered musical fields as diverse as computer music, tuning theory, and integrating ideas from acoustics and music cognition into his work. Tenney has also been important as a teacher, performer, and scholar of other radical American composers.
This CD contains recordings of the complete set of his Postal Pieces, written primarily during a very brief tenure at California Institute of the Arts in the early 1970s. These works, although frequently performed over the years, have not been recorded (with a few exceptions). This recording is a natural and important companion to the recent New World reissue of Tenney’s computer and electronic music from the 1960s. Both collections represent complete, highly individualistic and essential bodies of work by a major American artist.
The postal pieces, which Tenney called “Scorecards,” are a remarkable series of eleven short works printed on postcards. Each card contains a complete if minimally stated work to be performed by instrumentalists. These pieces elucidate to a large degree some of Tenney’s bedrock compositional ideas. Each is a kind of meditation on acoustics, form, or hyper-attention to a single performance gesture. This set is essential listening for anyone interested in the evolution of American experimental music.
Maximusic (1965), Swell Piece (1967), A Rose Is a Rose Is a Round (1970), Beast (1971), Swell Piece
2 (1971), Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971), Koan (1971), For Percussion Perhaps, Or . . . (night) (1971), Swell Piece
3 (1971), Cellogram (1971), August Harp (1971).
The Barton Workshop (Jos Zwaanenburg, flutes; Alex Geller, cello; Nina Hitz, cello; Marieke Keser, violin; Jacob Plooij, violin; Judith van Swaaij, cello; Elisabeth Smalt, viola; John Anderson, clarinets; Gertjan Loot, trumpet; Krijn van Arnhem, bassoon, contrabassoon; Frank Denyer, melodica; Charles van Tassel, baritone; Theo van Arnhem, contrabass; Jos Tieman, contrabass; James Fulkerson, conductor).
This CD contains recordings of the complete set of his Postal Pieces, written primarily during a very brief tenure at California Institute of the Arts in the early 1970s. These works, although frequently performed over the years, have not been recorded (with a few exceptions). This recording is a natural and important companion to the recent New World reissue of Tenney’s computer and electronic music from the 1960s. Both collections represent complete, highly individualistic and essential bodies of work by a major American artist.
The postal pieces, which Tenney called “Scorecards,” are a remarkable series of eleven short works printed on postcards. Each card contains a complete if minimally stated work to be performed by instrumentalists. These pieces elucidate to a large degree some of Tenney’s bedrock compositional ideas. Each is a kind of meditation on acoustics, form, or hyper-attention to a single performance gesture. This set is essential listening for anyone interested in the evolution of American experimental music.
Maximusic (1965), Swell Piece (1967), A Rose Is a Rose Is a Round (1970), Beast (1971), Swell Piece
2 (1971), Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971), Koan (1971), For Percussion Perhaps, Or . . . (night) (1971), Swell Piece
3 (1971), Cellogram (1971), August Harp (1971).
The Barton Workshop (Jos Zwaanenburg, flutes; Alex Geller, cello; Nina Hitz, cello; Marieke Keser, violin; Jacob Plooij, violin; Judith van Swaaij, cello; Elisabeth Smalt, viola; John Anderson, clarinets; Gertjan Loot, trumpet; Krijn van Arnhem, bassoon, contrabassoon; Frank Denyer, melodica; Charles van Tassel, baritone; Theo van Arnhem, contrabass; Jos Tieman, contrabass; James Fulkerson, conductor).
27,00€
In stock
CD
James TENNEY
“Melody, Ergodicity and Indeterminacy”
Poem (1955). Jos Zwaanenburg, flute. "Ergodos I" (1963) computer music. "Monody" (1959). John Anderson, clarinet. "Ergodos II" (1964) computer music. "Seegersong
1" (1999). John Anderson, clarinet. "String Complement (with Ergodos II)" (1964) computer music with violin, viola, cello, bass. "Seegersong
2" (1999). Jos Zwaanenburg, flute. "Instrumental Responses (with Ergodos I)" (1964) computer music with flute, bass clarinet, trombone, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, bass, percussion, baritone. "Ergodos III" (1994). Frank Denyer and Nora Mulder, pianos. "Percussion Response" (with Ergodos I) (1964) computer music with Tobias Liebezeit, percussion.
Barton Workshop. James Fulkerson & Frank Denyer, directors. First Recordings. “James Tenney (1934-2006) was probably the first composer to develop an aesthetic for computer music, realizing that electronic music almost forced the composer to accept noise as music and to abandon the idea of absolute control over a composition. He came to accept Cage’s passion for randomness, but from a different angle: computer music can be “unpredictable” (rather than “random”). This CD looks at how Tenney persistently asked two questions: “What if?” and “How does it work?” Entitled Melody, Ergodicity and Indeterminacy, it brings an understanding of Tenney’s exploration of the act of listening and the factors of composition, of how materials can be assembled, how a composer creates musical continuity. It contains four solos for flute and clarinet which are taken both from some of his earliest works, Poem (1955) and Monody (1959) and from relatively late in his career, Seegersong
1 & 2 (1999). The cd features Tenney’s Ergodos compositions (forerunners of minimal music or drones) - instead of a fixed object, the listener hears a process and assembles his own experience from the sounds which have enveloped him. The reel-to-reel source tapes for Ergodos I and II are unique in that they may be played in either direction, beginning and ending at any point and-or with any number of super-impositions of parts (channels). On this cd, both Ergodos tape pieces are presented along with the tape and its String complement, Instrumental responses (10 performers) and also with a percussion soloist (Percussion responses). Like so many of Tenney’s pieces, these works walk a line between the composers input and the choices of the performers in order to come to fruition. Tenney’s conscious inclusion of the performer’s input is a consistent characteristic of his music and remains a factor which distinguishes him from many other composers.”
16,00€