Postal Pieces, by James Tenney

Postal Pieces

by James Tenney

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

includes pdf liner notes

Purchasable with gift card

$17.99 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of Postal Pieces via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 3 days

Purchasable with gift card

$31.98 USD or more

1.	Maximusic 07:17	buy track
2.	Swell Piece 10:21	buy track
3.	A Rose Is a Rose Is a Round 00:49	buy track
4.	Beast 07:09	buy track
5.	Swell Piece #2 10:18	buy track
6.	Having Never Written a Note for Percussion 13:54	buy track
7.	Koan 10:52	buy track
8.	For Percussion Perhaps, Or (night) 11:19	buy track
9.	Swell Piece #3 12:49	buy track
10.	Cellogram 05:08	buy track
11.	August Harp 42:53	buy track

about

James Tenney (1934-2006) is one of the most important American composers and theorists of the past fifty years. For a very long time, his work was known mainly to other musicians and its tremendous influence was belied by its obscurity. In the past twenty years, however, as his music and writings have been more and more published, recorded, performed, and studied, his place in the context of American contemporary music has become far better understood. He has pioneered musical fields as diverse as computer music, tuning theory, and integrating ideas from acoustics and music cognition into his work. Tenney has also been important as a teacher, performer, and scholar of other radical American composers.

This CD contains recordings of the complete set of his Postal Pieces, written primarily during a very brief tenure at California Institute of the Arts in the early 1970s. These works, although frequently performed over the years, have not been recorded (with a few exceptions). This recording is a natural and important companion to the New World reissue of Tenney's computer and electronic music from the 1960s. Both collections represent complete, highly individualistic and essential bodies of work by a major American artist.

The postal pieces, which Tenney called "Scorecards," are a remarkable series of eleven short works printed on postcards. Each card contains a complete if minimally stated work to be performed by instrumentalists. These pieces elucidate to a large degree some of Tenney's bedrock compositional ideas. Each is a kind of meditation on acoustics, form, or hyper-attention to a single performance gesture. This set is essential listening for anyone interested in the evolution of American experimental music.

credits

released January 1, 2004

The Barton Workshop: Jos Zwaanenburg, flutes; Alex Geller, cello; Nina Hitz, cello; Marieke Keser, violin; Jacob Plooij, violin; Judith van Swaaij, cello; Elisabeth Smalt, viola; John Anderson, clarinets; Gertjan Loot, trumpet; Krijn van Arnhem, bassoon, contrabassoon; Frank Denyer, melodica; Charles van Tassel, baritone; Theo van Arnhem, contrabass; Jos Tieman, contrabass; James Fulkerson, conductor

license

about

New World Records Brooklyn, New York

Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975.

We are dedicated to the documentation of American music that is largely ignored by the commercial recording companies.

contact / help

Contact New World Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Postal Pieces, you may also like:

Occam XXV
by Éliane Radigue & Frédéric Blondy

supported by 7 fans who also own “Postal Pieces”

Wauw … this is totally sonic drone heaven! Radigue hits me again! Beautifull latzijones
go to album
Naldjorlak
by Éliane Radigue

supported by 7 fans who also own “Postal Pieces”
go to album
120 Pieces of Sound
by Jürg Frey

supported by 6 fans who also own “Postal Pieces”
go to album
52 Weeks Of Downloads
by Wayne Horvitz

featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 5, 2024
go to album
Telepathic Music Vol. 1
by The Evolution of the Arm

True to their “Twin Peaks”-inspired name, Evolution of the Arm make avant-garde music that’s irresistibly creepy. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 3, 2022
go to album
DIVIDE
by Hanna Benn

featured on Bandcamp Radio Nov 6, 2018
go to album
Violin and String Quartet
by Morton Feldman

supported by 6 fans who also own “Postal Pieces”

As label-mate Philip Thomas did for piano, Apartment House is setting the standard for Morton Feltman’s works for strings. The care and sensitivity shown to the music has made them, for me, the standard editions. That is certainly true with Violin and String Quartet. I hope they will eventually take on the Sting Quartets (although I understand the challenges the second poses), and other chamber works. Michael Flaherty
go to album