"Maximum clarity" and other writings on music / / Ben Johnston ; edited by Bob Gilmore

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910957608403321
• Autore: Johnston Ben
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Urbana, : University of Illinois Press, c2006
• ISBN: 9786613895837; 9781283583381; 1283583380; 9780252091575; 0252091574
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xxxviii, 275 pages) : illustrations, music
• Collana: Music in American life
• Altri autori (Persone): GilmoreBob <1961->
• Disciplina: 780
• Soggetti: Music - 20th century - History and criticism
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-265), discography (p. [267]-269), and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Ben Johnston: A Chronology -- Aesthetic Theory; Philosophical Background for Mathematical Theory -- Musical Background for Application of Mathematical Theory 1959-60 -- Scalar Order as a Compositional Resource -- Proportionality and Expanded Musical Pitch Relations -- Microtonal Resources -- Tonality Regained -- Music Theory -- Rational Structure in Music -- A Notation System for Extended Just Intonation --; Musical Intelligibiliity: Where Are We? -- A Talk on Contemporary Music -- Festivals and New Music -- Three Attacks on a Problem -- On Context -- Contribution to IMC Panel -- How to Cook an Albatross -- Art and Survival -- On Bridge-Building -- Seventeen Items -- Art and Religion -- Extended Just Intonation: A Position Paper -- A.S.U.C. Keynote Address -- Just Intonation and Mere Intonation -- Without Improvement -- Maximum Clarity -- On String Quartet no. 2 --; On Sonata for Microtonal Piano -- The Genesis of Knocking Piece -- Quintet for Groups: A Reminiscence -- On Carmilla -- On Crossings (String Quartet no. 3 and String Quartet no. 4) -- On the Age of Surveillance -- On String Quartet no. 5 -- On String Quartet no. 6 -- On Journeys -- On Sleep and Waking -- Letter from Urbana -- To ; Perspectives of New Music Re. John Cage -- The Corporealism of Harry Partch -- Harry Partch/John Cage -- Harry Partch's Cloud-Chamber Music -- Beyond Harry Partch -- Regarding La Monte Young -- Notes on sources.
• Sommario/riassunto: Described by New York Times critic John Rockwell as "one of the best non-famous composers this country has to offer, " Ben Johnston reconceives familiar idioms--ranging from neoclassicism and serialism to jazz and southern hymnody--using just intonation. Johnston studied with Darius Milhaud, Harry Partch, and John Cage, and is best known for his String Quartet No. 4, a complex series of variations on Amazing Grace. This collection spans forty years and brings together forty-one of Johnston's most important writings, including many rare and several previously unpublished selections. They include position papers, theoretical treatises, program notes, historical reflections, lectures, excerpts from interviews, and letters, and they cover a broad spectrum of concerns--from the technical exegesis of microtonality to the personal and the broadly humanistic. A discography of commercially available recordings of Johnston's music closes out the collection.