Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Honoring James Tenney

James Tenney is not as famous as many of his friends and mostly late teachers but he is a giant to his many admirers in the contemporary music community. When Kyle Gann (actually Kyle says not quite--see comments) asked John Cage in 1989 whom he would study with if he were young today, his answer was, "James Tenney."

Tenney was a pioneer in the field of electronic and computer music, working with Max Mathews and others at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in the early 1960s to develop programs for computer sound-generation and composition. He studied with--or was friends with--such luminaries as Edgard Varese, Carl Ruggles, John Cage, and Harry Partch. He had close affiliations with several filmmakers, appearing in Carolee Schneemann�s influential film Fuses (1967) and composing music for works by Schneemann and Stan Brakhage. He participated in the earliest experiments with musical Minimalism as a composer and performer, including original membership in both the Philip Glass and Steve Reich Ensembles. As co-organizer, conductor, and pianist for the Tone Roads Chamber Ensemble, he played a role in introducing the music of Ives, Cage, Feldman, Ruggles, Varese, and others to a wider audience.

Tenney has also had a long career in teaching having been on the faculties of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, the University of California at Santa Cruz and York University in Toronto where he was named Distinguished Research Professor in 1994. He is currently holds the Roy E. Disney Family Chair in Musical Composition at CalArts. His important writings include History of Consonance and Dissonance and Meta-Hodos (a theory of musical perception grounded on gestalt psychology).

In short, he is one of those legendary "downtowners" who is more heard-about than heard.

The unsinkable pianist and Tenney admirer Jenny Lin decided to do something about that and she's organized two evening-length programs of newly composed and innovative early work to honor him during his 70th year. The first of these will be on May 8 at East Village venue The Project Room and will include a rare performance of Tenney's Postal Pieces (1965-71). Written during a brief tenure in the earliest days at CalArts, Postal Pieces is a series of eleven works printed on postcards. The second will be on May 11 at The Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria and will include a performance of Forms I�IV as well as two world premieres. Jenny has pulled together a diverse roster of intrepid local musicians to work collaboratively on the programs, including SoHo-scene originals DownTown Ensemble and the polymath composer/instrumentalist Elliott Sharp as well as younger groups like Flux Quartet, TILT brass band, and Ne(x)tworks.

Tenney will participate in both concerts.

posted by Jerry Bowles 4/21/2005