{"product_id":"tenney-james-postal-pieces-2","title":"TENNEY, JAMES - Postal Pieces (2)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003ePerformed by \u003cb\u003eThe Barton Workshop\u003c\/b\u003e, directed by \u003cb\u003eJames Fulkerson\u003c\/b\u003e. Liner notes by \u003cb\u003eBradford Bailey\u003c\/b\u003e. Blume returns to \u003cb\u003eJames Tenney\u003c\/b\u003e's \u003ci\u003ePostal Pieces\u003c\/i\u003e with a second volume: the three \u003ci\u003eSwell Pieces\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eKoan\u003c\/i\u003e, written for \u003cb\u003eAlison Knowles\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ePauline Oliveros\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eLa Monte Young\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003eMalcolm Goldstein\u003c\/b\u003e, on vinyl for the first time from one of the key suites of 20th Century avant-garde music. In 1970, James Tenney (1934-2006) reversed the entropy of his own life and went west. After spending the majority of the post-war years at the center of cultural ferment in New York, he accepted a position at the newly inaugurated California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), alongside \u003cb\u003eAllan Kaprow\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eSimone Forti\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eJohn Baldessari\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eNam June Paik\u003c\/b\u003e, Alison Knowles, \u003cb\u003eMorton Subotnick\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eHarold Budd\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003eCharlemagne Palestine\u003c\/b\u003e. While the move began an enduring period of relative obscurity, Tenney quietly remained one of the most distinct and groundbreaking composers of his generation, producing a remarkably focused body of work inquiring after the elemental character and perception of sound. Among the most celebrated of his efforts are the \u003ci\u003ePostal Pieces\u003c\/i\u003e, a suite of eleven compositions completed in 1971. Citing his strong dislike of writing letters, Tenney sent his friends short scores on the back of postcards. The eleven pieces are composed around three themes: his concept of swell form (utilizing repetition and progressing through a structurally symmetrical arch), intonation, and the desire to produce \"meditative perceptual states.\" Composed for a group of friends, the four works on this second volume are intimate, poetic and discreet. They were written roughly contemporaneously with the formation of minimalism by many of Tenney's closest friends, and share its elements of chance, durational tone, repetition and constraint, but they approach them on different terms, anticipating the more complex forms of post-minimalism. Rooted in gestalt theory, they are music in which the composer almost entirely disappears, offering greater attention to the artists to whom they were sent and to the subjective experience of the listener. A student of \u003cb\u003eCarl Ruggles\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eJohn Cage\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eHarry Partch\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003eEdgard Varèse\u003c\/b\u003e, an active member of Fluxus, a pioneer of computer music at Bell Labs and a collaborator of \u003cb\u003eCarolee Schneemann\u003c\/b\u003e, Tenney represents a winding thread connecting the entire history of American avant-garde and experimental music. The second collection by Blume attending to the \u003ci\u003ePostal Pieces\u003c\/i\u003e, recorded by The Barton Workshop under the direction of \u003cb\u003eJames Fulkerson\u003c\/b\u003e, follows the long sold-out first volume.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"documents\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Blume","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":51048135622875,"sku":null,"price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2295\/2925\/files\/BLUME027LP_PROD.jpg?v=1793923666","url":"https:\/\/www.fusetronsound.com\/products\/tenney-james-postal-pieces-2","provider":"fusetron","version":"1.0","type":"link"}