Abstract
Between 1971 and 2006, James Tenney created more than fifty significant works of what is now commonly called ‘spectral music’. In their materials and procedures, his compositions frequently paralleled, sometimes anticipated, and in some instances strikingly contrasted with spectralist developments in Europe. This article provides an analytical introduction to the spectralist component of Tenney's large and varied output, and explores its emergence and place within a North American tradition of spectral music composition. Among the compositional concerns addressed are the duality of timbre and harmony, the harmonic series as a structural resource, the instrumental synthesis of speech, rhythmic analogs of spectral structures, the expansion of traditional harmonic means, and practical performance considerations.
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