The Music of James Tenney

A work-by-work guide to the composers groundbreaking music Robert Wannamakers monumental two-volume study explores the influential music and ideas of American composer, theorist, writer, performer, and educator James Tenney. Delving into the whole of Tenneys far-ranging oeuvre, Wannamaker offers close, aurally grounded analyses of works linked to the artists revolutionary theories of musical form, timbre, and harmonic perception. Written as a reference work, Volume 2, A Handbook to the Pieces, presents detailed entries on Tenneys significant post-1959 experimental works (excepting pieces covered in volume 1). Wannamaker includes technical information, an analysis of intentions and goals, graphs and musical examples, historical and biographical context, and thoughts from Tenney and others on specific works. Throughout, he discusses the striking compositional ideas found in Tenneys music and, where appropriate, traces an ideas appearance from one piece to the next to reveal the evolution of the composers art and thought.A landmark in experimental music scholarship, The Music of James Tenney is a first-of-its-kind consideration of the experimental music titan and his work.