[OT] Remembering James Tenney
A great pioneer in our field, James Tenney, died last week. A brief obituary can be found here:
I was lucky to meet him, although only briefly, and I remember him as a warm and inspirational teacher and colleague. His writings on computer music were informed and forward looking; the 1963 article "Sound-Generation by means of a Digital Computer" in the Journal of Music Theory is a good example. His compositions encompassed many of the the aesthetic memes of the 20th Century both tastefully and insightfully.
CNMAT will be presenting two concerts at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral this month, which will be dedicated to him. More information can be found here:
Michael Zbyszynski
I saw him speak and play a couple of his pieces when I was a student in Santa Cruz years ago. One of best talks I attended at school! It was wonderful to hear him articulate the vision of his composition and then hear the strange and wonderful music. It confirmed that it wasn't all just a bunch of academic nonsense, but a real, living aesthetic with purpose and pleasure.