Ben Johnston

Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Junior (born March 15, 1926 in Macon, Georgia) is a composer of contemporary music in the just intonation system. Image File history File links BenJohnston. ... Image File history File links BenJohnston. ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Macon is a city located in central Georgia. ... In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. ... In music, just intonation, also called rational intonation, is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios; that is, by positive rational numbers. ...

Johnston's Music

Ben Johnston is best known for extending Harry Partch's experiments in just intonation tuning to traditional instruments through his system of notation. Johnston's compositions range widely in style, focusing on 20th century experimental modernism and neoclassicism (though extending into jazz ("Revised Standards," for string quartet), folk-song variations (String Quartets 4, 5 and 10), and rock music (the rock-opera "Carmilla"); one of his compositional goals is to demonstrate the versatility of just intonation tuning in many styles. Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer. ... In music, just intonation, also called rational intonation, is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios; that is, by positive rational numbers. ...

Most of his later works use an extremely large number of pitches, generated through just intonation procedures. In them, Johnston forms melodies based on an "otonal" eight note just-intonation scale made from the 8th through 15th partials of the harmonic series) or its "utonal" inversion. He then gains new pitches by using common-tone transpositions or inversions. Many of his works also feature an expansive use of just intonation, using high "Prime limits." His String Quartet No. 9 uses intervals of the harmonic series as high as the 31st partial. Otonality and Utonality are terms introduced by Harry Partch to describe chords whose notes are the overtones (multiples) or undertones (divisors) of a given fixed tone. ... See Harmonic series (music) Harmonic series (mathematics) These two concepts are related. ... Otonality and Utonality are terms introduced by Harry Partch to describe chords whose notes are the overtones (multiples) or undertones (divisors) of a given fixed tone. ... Just intonation tunings and scales can be described by giving an upper bound on the complexity of the harmonies admitted by the tuning or scale. ...

Johnston's early efforts in just composition drew heavily on the accomplishments of post-Webern serialism. His String Quartet No. 4 "Amazing Grace", however, ushered in a change of style in which tonality plays a central role. The String Quartet No. 4 was recorded by the Kronos Quartet and is perhaps Johnston's best-known composition. His "Amazing Grace" quartet was also recorded by the Kepler Quartet on a CD for the New World Records label, the first of a proposed series to document Johnston's entire cycle of string quartets. It is on this CD that String Quartet No. 3 was recorded (for the first time) to create a pairing, with String Quartet No. 4, called Crossings. The two quartets were premiered this way by the Concord Quartet at New York's Alice Tully Hall, on March 15, 1976 (the composer's fiftieth birthday). Anton Webern (December 3, 1883 – September 15, 1945) was an Austrian composer. ... Serialism is a technique for composing music that uses sets to describe musical elements, and allows the composer manipulations of those sets to create music. ... Tonality is a system of writing music according to certain hierarchical pitch relationships around a center or tonic. ... Kronos Quartet in 2006. ... Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

Biography

Johnston taught composition and theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1951 to 1983. Johnston began as a traditional composer of art music before working with Harry Partch, helping the senior musician to build instruments and use them in the performance and recording of new compositions. After working with Partch, Johnston studied with Darius Milhaud at Mills College. It was in fact Partch himself who set Johnston up with Milhaud. It should be noted that Johnston struggled with just how to integrate just intonation into his compositions for a number of years. Since 1960 Johnston has used, almost exclusively, a system of microtonal notation based on the rational intervals of just intonation. Johnston also worked with John Cage, who encouraged him to pursue the composition of just-tuned music for traditional instruments. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, also known as UIUC and the U of I (the officially preferred abbreviation), is the flagship campus in the University of Illinois system. ... This article is about the broad genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. ... Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer. ... Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (September 4, 1892 – June 22, 1974) was a French composer and teacher. ... In music, just intonation, also called rational intonation, is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios; that is, by positive rational numbers. ... John Cage For the character of John Cage from the TV show Ally McBeal see: John Cage (Character) John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. ...

Other works include the orchestral work Quintet for Groups (commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Sonnets of Desolation (commissioned by the Swingle Singers), the opera Carmilla, the Sonata for Microtonal Piano (1964) and the Suite for Microtonal Piano (1977). Johnston has completed ten string quartets to date. The Kronos Quartet, led by David Harrington, has a standing offer to record all ten quartets, but its label, Nonesuch, has thus far refused the offer. In 2006, the Kepler Quartet issued String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 4 & 9 for the New World Records label. As of 2006, the Kepler Quartet plan to follow up with String Quartets Nos. 1, 5, 6, 8 & 10, for New World Records. Also as of 2006, New World Records, through its Database of Recorded American Music (an online subscription service for colleges, universities and libraries), plans to make the Kepler release(s) available, along with the rest of New World Records' catalogue (including Johnston's Sonata for Microtonal Piano, Five Fragments for voice, oboe, bassoon and cello, Gambit for 12 instruments, Ponder Nothing for solo clarinet, Septet for woodwind quintet, cello and contrabass, Three Chinese Lyrics for soprano and two violins, and Trio for clarinet, violin and cello), to students, faculty and scholars affiliated with a subscribing university, without charge to the individual. The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) was founded in 1880, making it the second oldest symphony in the United States after the New York Philharmonic. ... The Swingle Singers (1962-1973) was a vocal group formed in Paris, France with Ward Swingle, Anne Germain, Jeanette Baucomont, and Jean Cussac. ... Sonata for Microtonal Piano is a sonata for specifically microtonally tuned piano by Ben Johnston written in 1964 (see also just intonation). ... Suite for Microtonal Piano is a suite for specifically microtonally tuned piano(s) by Ben Johnston written in 1977 (see also just intonation). ... Kronos Quartet in 2006. ... Nonesuch Records is currently allied with Warner Bros. ... Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. ... Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. ... Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. ... A joint venture by New World Records and New York University, the Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM) is designed to facilitate the music research of scholars and students by offering on-demand, streaming access to an extensive and ever-growing catalog of essential music. ... Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc. ... Sonata for Microtonal Piano is a sonata for specifically microtonally tuned piano by Ben Johnston written in 1964 (see also just intonation). ...

Following on the ideas of Theodor Adorno, Johnston believes that music has the power to influence and even control social trends. Johnston believes that an equal tempered tuning system based on irrational intervals contributes to the hectic hyper-activity of modern life. The wildly beating sonorities of equal temperament are thought to resemble (and perhaps foment) the fast-paced, unmeditative current of present-day Western existence. Many just intervals lack the sharp vibrancy of irrational intervals (and higher-order rational intervals) and thus are sometimes felt to convey an affect of stasis and meditative calm. Indeed, cultures whose tuning systems draw heavily on purely tuned intervals (e.g., North Indian classical music) tend to value meditative social attitudes more greatly than in the West. Max Horkheimer (front left), Theodor Adorno (front right), and Jürgen Habermas in the background, right, in 1965 at Heidelberg. ... Equal temperament is a scheme of musical tuning in which the octave is divided into a series of equal steps (equal frequency ratios). ... An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or system of tuning, in which an interval, usually the octave, is divided into a series of equal steps (equal frequency ratios). ... Look up affect in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Hindustani (हिन्‍दुस्‍थानी) classical music is an Indian classical music tradition originating in the North of the Indian subcontinent circa the 13th and 14th centuries CE. Developing a strong and diverse tradition over several centuries, it has contemporary...

Johnston has received many honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1959, a grant from the National Council on the Arts and the Humanities in 1966 and two commissions from the Smithsonian Institute. Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. ... The Smithsonian castle, as seen through the garden gate. ...

A very insightful interview with Ben Johnston can be found in William Duckworth's book, Talking Music. Heidi von Gunden's monograph on the composer, The Music of Ben Johnston, appeared in 1986 (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press), and Bob Gilmore's edition of Johnston's complete writings, Maximum Clarity and Other Writings on Music was published in 2006 (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press). William Duckworth (born in 1943) is credited as composer of the first postminimal piece of music, The Time Curve Preludes. ... This article, image, template or category should belong in one or more categories. ...

Recordings

• 2006. The Kepler Quartet: Ben Johnston String Quartets. New World Records.
  • Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 9
  • Ben Johnston: Crossings: String Quartet No. 3
  • Ben Johnston: Crossings: The Silence
  • Ben Johnston: Crossings: String Quartet No. 4 (Amazing Grace)
  • Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 2

• 2005. Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Vol. 1, 2 & 3. Troppe Note Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Songs of Loss

• 1997. Phillip Bush: Microtonal Piano. Koch International Classics.
  • Ben Johnston: Suite for Microtonal Piano
  • Ben Johnston: Sonata For Microtonal Piano
  • Ben Johnston: Saint Joan

• 1996. Michael Cameron: Progression. Ziva Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Progression

• 1995. Music Amici: Ponder Nothing. New World Records.
  • Ben Johnston: Septet
  • Ben Johnston: Three Chinese Lyrics
  • Ben Johnston: Gambit
  • Ben Johnston: Five Fragments
  • Ben Johnston: Trio
  • Ben Johnston: Ponder Nothing

• 1995. The Stanford Quartet. Laurel Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 9

• 1995. Sound Forms for Piano. New World Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Sonata For Microtonal Piano

• 1995. The Kronos Quartet: Released (Compilation). Nonesuch Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 4 (Amazing Grace)

• 1994. Dora Ohrenstein: Urban Diva. CRI Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Calamity Jane to Her Daughter

• 1987. The Kronos Quartet: White Man Sleeps. Nonesuch Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 4 (Amazing Grace)

• 1984. New Swingle Singers and New Vocal Workshop. Composers Recordings, Inc.
  • Ben Johnston: Sonnets of Desolation
  • Ben Johnston: Visions and Spels

• 1983. The New World Quartet. Composers Recordings, Inc.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 6

• 1980. The Fine Arts Quartet:. Nonesuch Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 4 (Amazing Grace)

• 1979. Music from the University of Illinois. Composers Recordings, Inc.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Duo for flute and contrabass

• 1971. New Music Choral Ensemble, Kenneth Gaburo, conductor. Ars Nova/Ars Antiqua Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Ci-Git Satie

• 1970. Carmilla: A Vampire Tale. Vanguard Records.
  • Ben Johnston: Carmilla: A Vampire Tale

• 1969. John Cage & Lejaren Hiller - HPSCHD/ Ben Johnston - String Quartet No. 2. Nonesuch Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 2

• 1969. Bertram Turetzky: The Contemporary Contrabass. Nonesuch Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Casta Bertram

Phillip Bush is an American classical pianist, with a career focusing primarily on chamber music and contemporary classical music. ... Kronos Quartet in 2006. ... Kronos Quartet in 2006. ...

External links

• Living Composers Project

Listening

• Ben Johnston at the Avant Garde Project has FLAC files made from high-quality LP transcriptions available for free download.