The Music of James Tenney: Volume 1: Contexts and Paradigms

The Music of James Tenney is a two-volume study by Robert Wannamaker that explores the influential music and ideas of American composer James Tenney. It provides in-depth, aurally grounded analyses of Tenney's works, with biographical, aesthetic, and technical context for each period. It also includes musical examples, graphs, and diagrams, and draws on unpublished material and primary sources.

Format: Hardback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 14 December 2021
Publisher: University of Illinois Press

The Music of James Tenney: A Comprehensive Study by Robert Wannamaker

Robert Wannamaker's monumental two-volume study delves into the influential music and ideas of American composer, theorist, writer, performer, and educator James Tenney. Spanning Tenney's extensive oeuvre, Wannamaker offers in-depth, aurally grounded analyses of works linked to the artist's revolutionary theories of musical form, timbre, and harmonic perception.

Volume 1, Contexts and Paradigms, provides a chronological survey of Tenney's creative development and output. Wannamaker begins each section with biographical, aesthetic, and technical context that illuminates a distinct period in Tenney's career. He then analyzes a select few pieces that showcase the concerns, characteristics, and techniques that emerged in Tenney's music during that time. Wannamaker complements the text with musical examples, graphs, and diagrams, while also drawing on unpublished material and newly available primary sources to enrich each work and the ideas that shaped it.

A landmark in experimental music scholarship, The Music of James Tenney is a groundbreaking exploration of the experimental music titan and his work.

Weight: 894g
Dimension: 183 x 260 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780252043673