Postal Pieces

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
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), (night). ‘For percussion perhaps, or . . .’ (1971), Swell Piece #3 (1971), Cellogram (1971), August Harp (1971)

Of related interest:
80570 James Tenney—Selected Works 1961–1969

Tracks:

Maximusic
Swell Piece
A Rose Is a Rose Is a Round
Beast
Swell Piece #2
Having Never Written a Note for Percussion
Koan
For Percussion Perhaps, Or...(night)

Tracks:

Swell Piece #3
Cellogram
August Harp

Album Description

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), (night). `For percussion perhaps, or . . .' (1971), Swell Piece #3 (1971), Cellogram (1971), August Harp (1971)

Of related interest:
80570 James Tenney—Selected Works 1961-1969

Customer Reviews:

experimetalism at its best, it needn't be seerious.......2004-12-21

James Tenney is one of those creators like John Cage, he can be found anywhere, any genre any time,frame, any place. He also has a large theoretical oeuvre,impressive on just intonation,tuning and timbre.

All these pieces here are fun to put it simply, and simplicity was a wonderful element that this side of the Atlantic gave to the avant-garde almost like a gift. The European paradigm with complexity, serialism,electronics and then post-serialism became hardboiled overdetermined and found itslef at an endpoint, the end of the fruitful lands. Certainly Stockhausen had much to contribute again a persona who found himself inside all genres,but he wanted everyone to know it, and had gifted cadre who followed like sheep.Then it was not till the end of his life that Luigi Nono had discovered an intellectual simplicity of concept.
Well the sheep followings happens here to in the good ol'USA but we tend to look past it if the music is interesting and leads somewheres else.

These pieces here were quite literally postcards, I recall getting "Beast" in the mail once. All these works are about sustained sound, like Tenney was afraid to write a counterpoint or a rhythm, shell shocked into simplicity. "Swell piece" is about crescendos, "swelling" OK, making envelopes from soft to loud, These are all one 0idea pieces, miniatures some call them, "Koan" is for Violin solo and is simply a tremelo back and forth, to and fro across two strings. Tenney knows his materials and knows all this stiuff cannot last too long. Although I have heard this lasting un-godly amounts of time one note, or one tremoli, help help!, "cellogram" is again sustained timbre,for the cello and "Beast" is for contrabass; a wonderful piece almost like John Gardner's novel of the benign beast/monster that only wants love,but still retains evil,or doesn't get it,or does,but doesn't like it.I didn''t like at all the round "A Rose is a Rose, this is a "sing-songee, sing-songee"Renaissance sounding-like choral work that might be fun to sing with others but not to listen to.,"August Harp" is simplicity again single tones, plucked, quite beautiful. Well all this music takes traditional beauty as a starting point.

Average customer rating:

violin music unassuming anything;an alternative literature

Sounding the New Violin

Manufacturer: What Next Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000C2L7
Release Date: 1998-10-13

Customer Reviews:

violin music unassuming anything;an alternative literature.......2005-01-30

These are Violin solos that reside I think away from the academic mainstream,or high drawer establishment venues ones now currently intoxicated with popular culture,obsessed with being loved.
Malcolm Goldstein was shall we say there at the creation of the post- war, post Cage avant-garde, and is an incredible improvisor as well as creator of music himself in any venue. I don't see him playing Elliott Carter or John Adams, no there are others for that. But here is a nice proper collection of pieces that one would not generally find within most concert venues, perhaps the odd place, anti-academia place, a bar as we have them in Chicago or Los Angeles that have doubled as concert venues for new music. The Oliveros piece is wonderfully inventive, melodic in import, she as well brings to her written works her performative experiences, as Goldstein himself. The"Eight Whiskus" of John Cage a latter work utilizes a process of playing notes within a prescribed time, a combination that interested him a take on hymnkus, hence the suffux to the title. It has the typical Cage, well-early Cage interest in pure open beauty, of the drawn bow non-vibrato. The "Trinity" of Ornette Coleman has more freedom and what happens here is that what someone writes and how he himself would play it might be a world apart. The Tenney piece has a minimalist like repetition, that grows gesturally thin after a time. Tenney's music is either right on target(in concept and interesting timbral devices) or it misses, or what wa thought is not what in reality is.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

You Are the Music We're Just the Band

Donizetti: Miserere

Early Years 1977-78

Visions of the Moment

1954 the Year That Rocked the World [Import]

Early Classics [Import]

Classics

Beware! The Ides of March Live [Live]

Break Down the Walls

Beethoven: Songs / Genz, Vignoles

Close Your Eyes [Import]

Como Te Extrano

Animo Coras: Viva Nayarit

The Ultimate Irving Berlin, Vol. 2

Lightfoot!/The Way I Feel