Ben Johnston (composer)

Not to be confused with Ben Jonson, Ben Johnson, or Ban Johnson.

Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Jr. (born March 15, 1926 in Macon, Georgia) is a composer of contemporary music in just intonation: "one of the foremost composers of microtonal music" (Bush 1997). He was called, "one of the best non-famous composers this country has to offer," in 1990 by American critic John Rockwell (Taylor 2002, 54).

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 compositional style is eclectic, employing serial processes, folksong idioms (String Quartets 4, 5 and 10), repetitive processes, traditional forms like fugue and variations, and intuitive processes (Fonville 1991, 120–21). However, his main goal, "has been to reestablish just intonation as a viable part of our musical tradition" (Bermel 1995) and "ultimately, what Johnston has done, more than any other composer with roots in the great American musical experiments of the '50's and '60's [sic], is to translate those radical approaches to the nature of music into a music that is immediately apprehensible" (Swed 1995, quoted in Bush 1997).

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. Thus Johnston uses, "potentially hundreds of pitches per octave," in way that is, "radical without being avant-garde," and not for the creation of, "as-yet-unheard dissonances," but in order to, "return...to a kind of musical beauty," he perceives as diminished in Western music since the adoption of equal-temperament (Gann 1995, 1). "By the beginning of the 1980s he could say of his elaborately microtonal String Quartet no.5..., "I have no idea as to how many different pitches it used per octave" (Gilmore 2006, xviii).

Johnston's early efforts in just composition drew heavily on the accomplishments of post-Webern serialism. His 7-limit String Quartet No. 4 "Amazing Grace", however, ushered in a change of style in which tonality plays a central role. It was commissioned by the Fine Arts Music Foundation of Chicago, and was first recorded by The Fine Arts String Quartet on Nonesuch in 1980 (and reissued on Gasparo as GS205). The String Quartet No. 4, perhaps Johnston's best-known composition has also been recorded by the Kronos Quartet, and the Kepler Quartet recorded it 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 Third Quartet was premièred this way by the Concord String Quartet at New York's Alice Tully Hall, on March 15, 1976 (the composer's fiftieth birthday) (Rockwell 1976).

Staff notation

Just perfect fifth on D <phonos file="Just perfect fifth on D.mid">Play</phonos>. The perfect fifth above D (A+, 27/16) is a syntonic comma (81/80 or 21.5 cents) higher than the just major sixth above C (A♮, 5/3) (Fonville 1991, 109), 27/16 ÷ 9/8 = 3/2.

Beginning in the 1960s, Johnston had proposed an approach to notating music in just intonation (see Just intonation#Staff notation), redefining the understanding of conventional symbols (the seven "white" notes, the sharps and flats) and adding further accidentals, each designed to extend the notation into higher prime limits. Johnston‘s method is based on a diatonic C Major scale tuned in JI, in which the interval between D (9/8 above C) and A (5/3 above C) is one Syntonic comma less than a Pythagorean perfect fifth 3:2. To write a perfect fifth, Johnston introduces a pair of symbols representing this comma, + and –. Thus, a series of perfect fifths beginning with F would proceed C G D A+ E+ B+. The three conventional white notes A E B are tuned as Ptolemaic major thirds (5:4, Ptolemy's intense diatonic scale) above F C G respectively. Johnston introduces new symbols for the septimal ( & ), undecimal (↑ & ↓), tridecimal ( & ), and further prime extensions to create an accidental-based exact JI notation for what he has named "Extended Just Intonation" (Johnston 2006, 77-88).

Though, "this notation is not tied to any particular diapason," and, "what remains constant are the ratio relations between pitches," (Johnston 2006b, 77) "most of his works utilize A = 440 as the tuning note," making C 264 Hertz (Fonville 1991, 136n3). Thus a string quartet is tuned C-, G-, D-, A, E.

Biography

Johnston taught composition and theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1951 to 1986 before retiring to North Carolina (Gann 1995, 1). While there he was in contact with such "avant-garde" figures as John Cage, La Monte Young, and Iannis Xenakis (Gann 1995). Johnston's students include Stuart Saunders Smith, Neely Bruce, Thomas Albert, Michael Pisaro, Manfred Stahnke, and Kyle Gann. He also considers his practice of just intonation to have influenced Manfred Stahnke, and with James Tenney, Larry Polansky (Bremel 1995).

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 arranged for Johnston to study with Milhaud (Duckworth 1995, 122). In 1952 Johnston met John Cage, who invited him to come to New York in the summer to study with him. Though Johnston decided he did not have sufficient time to prepare for such studies, he did go to New York for several weeks, where he assisted, along with Earle Brown, in the production of Cage's eight-track tape composition, Williams Mix. He did study with Cage later, in 1957 and 1959 (Von Gunden 1986, 22). Cage encouraged him to follow his desires and use traditional instruments rather than electronics or newly built ones (Bermel 1995). Unskilled in carpentry and finding electronics then unreliable, Johnston struggled with how to integrate microtonality and conventional instrumentals for ten years and struggled with how to integrate microtones into his compositional language through a slow process of many stages (Gann 1995, 1). However, since 1960 Johnston has used, almost exclusively, a system of microtonal notation based on the rational intervals of just intonation, what Gann (1995, 1) describes as a "lifelong allegiance" to "microtonality". Johnston also studied with Burrill Phillips and Robert Palmer (Tyranny 2011; Von Gunden 1986, 23).

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 (Bemel 1995).

"Tempered tuning is not the acoustically simplest kind. In just tuning, any interval is tuned so as to eliminate 'beating' (the result of vibrations interfering with each other). Just intonation is the easiest to achieve by ear. In this kind of tuning, all intervals have vibration rates related by small whole-number ratios. The larger the integers of the ratio, the greater the dissonance" (Johnston 2006, 42).

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, two commissions from the Smithsonian Institution and the Deems Taylor Award. In 2007, the American Academy of Arts and Letters honored Johnston for his lifetime of work. His Quintet for Groups won the SWR Sinfonieorchester prize at the 2008 Donaueschinger Musiktage (Lamparter 2008).

An interview with Ben Johnston can be found in Duckworth 1995. Heidi von Gunden has published a monograph on the composer (Von Gunden 1986), and Bob Gilmore has edited the composer's complete writings (Johnston 2006).

Recordings

• 2014. Ben Johnston: Ruminations. John Schneider (voice and microtonal guitar), Eclipse String Quartet, Karen Clark (voice), Jim Sullivan (clarinet), Sarah Thornblade (violin). MicroFest Records CD 5.
  • Ben Johnston: The Tavern
  • Ben Johnston: Revised Standards
  • Ben Johnston: Parable
• 2011. Ben Johnston: String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 & 10. Kepler Quartet. New World Records CD 80693.
  • Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 5
  • Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 10
  • Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 1, 'Nine Variations'
• 2008. On Track - Commissions Vol. 2. New Century Saxophone Quartet. CD recording. Alanna Records ACD 6006. Pittsburgh: Alanna Records
  • Includes Ben Johnston: O Waly Waly Variations
• 2006. Ben Johnston: String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 4 & 9. Kepler Quartet. New World Records CD 80637.
  • 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. Susan Fancher: Ponder Nothing. Innova Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Ponder Nothing
• 2002. Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Vol. 1, 2 & 3. Troppe Note Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Songs of Loss
• 1997. Phillip Bush: Microtonal Piano. Koch International Classics. 3-7369-2-H1.
  • 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
• 1993. Ponder Nothing: Chamber Music of Ben Johnston. CD recording. New World Records 80432-2. New York: New World Records
  • Ben Johnston: Septet, for woodwinds, horn, and strings
  • 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
• 1976. Sound Forms for Piano. LP recording. New World Records NW 203. New York: 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")
• 1993. Urban Diva. Dora Ohrenstein (soprano), Mary Rowell (violin), Phillip Bush (keyboards), Bill Ruyle and Jason Cirker (percussion), John Thompson (electric bass). Emergency Music. CD Recording. Composers Recordings Incorporated CD 654. New YorK: CRI Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Calamity Jane to Her Daughter
• 1987. White Man Sleeps. The Kronos Quartet. CD recording. Elektra Nonesuch 79163-2. New York: 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
• 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. LP recording. Nonesuch H-71224. New York: Nonesuch Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 2
• 1969. The Contemporary Contrabass. Bertram Turetzky, contrabass. Nonesuch Records.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Casta Bertram
• 1968. New Music Choral Ensemble, Kenneth Gaburo, conductor. LP Recording. Ars Nova/Ars Antiqua Records AN1005.
  • Includes Ben Johnston: Ci-Git Satie

Books

• Johnston, Ben. 2006. "Maximum Clarity" and Other Writings on Music, edited by Bob Gilmore. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-03098-2

References

• Bermel, Derek. 1995. "Ben Johnston: Interview with Derek Bermel, 1995", Paris Transatlantic (online edition, accessed 28 June 2009).
• Bush, Phillip. 1997. Liner notes (unpaginated) to Microtonal Piano by Ben Johnston. Phillip Bush, piano. Koch International Classics 3-7369-2. Port Washington, NY: Koch International. [Quotes The New Grove Dictionary of American Music and critic Mark Swed.]
• Duckworth, William. 1995. Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice-Hall International. ISBN 0-02-870823-7 Reprinted 1999, New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80893-5.
• Elster, Steven. 1991. "A Harmonic and Serial Analysis of Ben Johnston's String Quartet No. 6". Perspectives of New Music 29, no. 2 (Summer): 138–65.
• Fonville, John. 1991. "Ben Johnston's Extended Just Intonation: A Guide for Interpreters". Perspectives of New Music 29, no. 2 (Summer): 106–37.
• Gann, Kyle. 1995. Music Amici: Ben Johnston: Ponder Nothing. New World Records. Cat. No.: 80432. Liner notes.
• Gilmore, Bob. 1995. “Changing the Metaphor: Ratio Models of Musical Pitch in the Work of Harry Partch, Ben Johnston, and James Tenney”. Perspectives of New Music 33, nos. 1–2 (Winter-Summer): 458–503.
• Gilmore, Bob. 2006. "Introduction". In Ben Johnston, "Maximum Clarity" and Other Writings on Music, edited by Bob Gilmore, xi–xxiii. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-03098-2.
• Johnson, Timothy Ernest. 2008. "13-limit Extended Just Intonation in Ben Johnston's String Quartet Number 7 and Toby Twining's Chrysalid Requiem, Gradual/Tract". D.M.A. Thesis. Urbana: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Johnston, Ben. 2006a. "Maximum Clarity" and Other Writings on Music, edited by Bob Gilmore. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-03098-2.
• Johnston, Ben. 2006b. "A Notation System for Extended Just Intonation" (2003). In Ben Johnston, "Maximum Clarity" and Other Writings on Music, edited by Bob Gilmore, 77–88. ISBN 978-0-252-03098-7.
• Johnston, Ben, and Sylvia Smith. 2006. Who Am I? Why Am I here?: Ben Johnston Reflects on His Life in Music. Baltimore, Md.: Smith Publications.
• Johnston, Sibyl. 2007. "Very Precise Relationships: Two Interviews with Ben Johnston". American Music 25, no. 2 (Summer): 169–92.
• Kassel, Richard. 2001. "Johnston, Ben(jamin Burwell)". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Lamparter, Wolfram. 2008. [untitled article]. Newsletter (19 November): 1. Baden-Baden and Freiburg: SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg.
• Maltz, Richard Steven. 1991. "Microtonal Techniques in Charles Ives's Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for Two Pianos, Harry Patch's And [on] the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma, and Ben Johnston's Fourth String Quartet". Ph. D. Thesis. University of South Carolina.
• Ratliff, Phillip. 2002. "How Sweet the Sound". Living Music 18, no. 1 (Fall): 8–9.
• Rockwell, John. 1976. Music: Concord Strings; Quartet Performs Pieces by Johnston, Foss and Rochberg at Tully Hall. New York Times (March 17): 33.
• Schneider, John (ed.). 2007. "Ben Johnston at Eighty". 1/1: The Journal of the Just Intonation Network 12, no. 3 (Johnston Birthday Volume).
• Shinn, Randall. 1977. "Ben Johnston's Fourth String Quartet". Perspectives of New Music 15, no. 2 (Spring-Summer): 145–73.
• Swed, Mark. 1995. "Ben Johnston". Chamber Music Magazine (March):
• Taylor, Mark R. 2002. Untitled Review. Tempo, new series, no. 220 (April): 54-55. ((subscription required), accessed 01/04/2009 02:08.)
• Tyranny, "Blue" Gene. 2011. "Ben Johnston: Biography", AllMusic.com.
• Von Gunden, Heidi. 1986. The Music of Ben Johnston. Metuchen, NJ, and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-1907-4.

Listening

• Casta Bertram, perf. Bertram Turetzky (Nonesuch, 1969): FLAC and liner notes MP3
• String quartet no. 2, perf. Composers Quartet (Nonesuch, 1969): FLAC and liner notes MP3
• String quartet no. 6, perf. New World Quartet (CRI, 1983): liner notes MP3 (click on "Johnston 01.mp3")
• Sonnets of Desolation, perf. New Swingle Singers and New Vocal Workshop (CRI, 1984): liner notes MP3 (click on "Johnston 02.mp3")
• Visions and Spels, perf. New Swingle Singers and New Vocal Workshop (CRI, 1984): liner notes MP3 (click on "Johnston 03.mp3" for part 1; click on "Johnston 04.mp3" for part 2)

External links

• Ben Johnston at Plainsound Music Edition
• "Ben Johnston", Living Composers Project
• "A New Dissonance" has video interviews with the composer, blog entries, and documentary footage of the rehearsals of Johnston's 10th String Quartet performed by the Kepler Quartet.
• Ben Johnston at University of North Carolina (Greensboro) Symposium an autobiographical lecture describing his early music influences and his interest in microtonal music and, in particular, just intonation.
• Interview with Ben Johnston by Bruce Duffie, April 7, 1987