James Tenney's Forms I-IV

Reading the liner notes of the Hat Art recording of James Tenney's Forms leads one to expect some kind of dry, conceptual exercise. Each has a simple structure made by slowly adding and subtracting tones from a sound mass produced by sixteen players who play single pitches at indeterminate but regular times. The pitches are derived from the harmonic series, and this becomes apparent at the end of the second piece, which becomes a dominant 7th chord, then the 7th goes away, leaving a major chord, etc.

But the effect of this is anything but dry. The busy sections seem to buzz and hum with life, and when the music becomes low and soft, it feels like an underground river with occasional sparkles of light in the darkness.

It has been a long time since I have heard a piece of new music this original and beautiful. The music seems to hold within it the whole world of phenomena and feeling. In its inexorable, non-dramatic way, it is very moving.

The four pieces are interleaved with four other works, one each by Varese, Cage, Wolpe, and Feldman. Tenney has dedicated one of the Forms to each of these composers. If Tenney feels indebted to these composers, he has paid his debt most generously.