American composer James Tenney (1934-2006) left behind a large body of work, but he remains known to few outside the community of new music enthusiasts. His was certainly not a populist or easy aesthetic, but with listeners who have an ear for his distinctive sound, his works have depth and substance. His concerns were often with pitch (an exploration of the notes that fall between the 12 pitches of the tempered scale was an enduring interest), timbre, and dynamics, rather than with linearity or harmonic simultaneity, and ...
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American composer James Tenney (1934-2006) left behind a large body of work, but he remains known to few outside the community of new music enthusiasts. His was certainly not a populist or easy aesthetic, but with listeners who have an ear for his distinctive sound, his works have depth and substance. His concerns were often with pitch (an exploration of the notes that fall between the 12 pitches of the tempered scale was an enduring interest), timbre, and dynamics, rather than with linearity or harmonic simultaneity, and indeterminacy was common in his work. Spectrum Pieces, eight works lasting a total of over two hours, written in 1995 and 2001, are among the most important works of his late period. They were not intended to be performed as a set, but heard together as they are here, they have a cumulative power. Each is scored for a different chamber ensemble, so they have considerable timbral variety, but it's their single-minded aesthetic unity that is most striking; this is largely slow music...
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