Ben Johnston

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Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Junior (born March 15, 1926 in Macon , Georgia ; † July 21, 2019 in Deerfield , Wisconsin ) was an American composer who used pure tuning and invented his own notation system for it.

Johnston's music

He was particularly influenced by the composer and instrument maker Harry Partch , but expanded his concept beyond the 11th natural tone and used " Just Intonation " for classical instruments. His music is stylistically diversified and contains both serial and neoclassical elements with varying emphasis, and also approaches jazz forms and American folk music. He even wrote a rock opera with Carmilla .

biography

Johnston studied with Darius Milhaud , worked with Partch in Gualala (California) in 1950 and got to know Partch's concept of "just intonation" while making music and tuning instruments himself. From 1951 to 1983 he taught composition and music theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , from where he promoted Harry Partch in several of his operatic productions. Johnston worked with John Cage and had extensive contacts with the major experimental composers in the United States. He conveyed microtonal concepts to younger composers such as Larry Polansky and Manfred Stahnke . Most recently he devoted himself more and more intensely to Eastern meditation.

Johnston has received various scholarships, including a Guggenheim grant in 1959. He was funded by the National Council on the Arts and the Humanities in 1966 and received two commissions from the Smithsonian Institute . He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2018 .

An important book on Johnston is Bob Gilmore's edition of Johnston's Writings: Maximum Clarity and Other Writings on Music (2006).

With his orchestral work Quintet for Groups he had a brilliant success at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 2008 and received the prize of the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

Johnston died on July 21, 2019 in Deerfield , Wisconsin at the age of 93.

CD recordings

  • 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
  • 1970. Carmilla: A Vampire Tale. Vanguard Records .
    • Ben Johnston: Carmilla: A Vampire Tale
  • 1971. New Music Choral Ensemble, Kenneth Gaburo, conductor. Ars Nova / Ars Antiqua Records.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: Ci-Git Satie
  • 1979. Music from the University of Illinois. Composers Recordings, Inc.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: Duo for flute and contrabass
  • 1980. The Fine Arts Quartet: Nonesuch Records.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 4 (Amazing Grace)
  • 1983. The New World Quartet. Composers Recordings, Inc.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 6th
  • 1984. New Swingle Singers and New Vocal Workshop . Composers Recordings, Inc.
    • Ben Johnston: Sonnets of Desolation
    • Ben Johnston: Visions and Spels
  • 1987. The Kronos Quartet : White Man Sleeps. Nonesuch Records.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 4 (Amazing Grace)
  • 1995. Sound Forms for Piano . New World Records .
    • Includes Ben Johnston: Sonata For Microtonal Piano
  • 1995. The Stanford Quartet . Laurel Records.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 9
  • 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
  • 1996. Michael Cameron: Progression . Ziva Records.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: Progression
  • 1997. Phillip Bush : Microtonal Piano . Koch International Classics.
    • Ben Johnston: Suite for Microtonal Piano
    • Ben Johnston: Sonata For Microtonal Piano
    • Ben Johnston: Saint Joan
  • 2005. Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Vol. 1, 2 & 3 . Troppe Note Records.
    • Includes Ben Johnston: Songs of Loss
  • 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

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Academy Members. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed January 10, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Johnston, Ben
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnston, Benjamin Burwell Junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Macon , Georgia
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 2019
Place of death Deerfield , Wisconsin