844 Chords
844 Chords is, yes, 844 Chords: a catalogue of all the 5-note chords which span at least an octave and a half but no more than two octaves and a half, where the smallest interval between notes is a minor-third: ‘Rational Harmonies in Five Voices’. But as with all Tom Johnson’s work, the piece is more than just a formula: unexpected and unpredictable music arises even when you think you know what’s coming! As the composer says himself: “Sometimes one even hears reappearances of chromatic harmonies from the era of Franck and Wagner”. The work forms a part of our CD recording of works by Tom Johnson, released in 2010.
Performances
- Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, New York (Oct 22 2011)
- Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam (Sep 16 2011)
- Nicolaikerk, Utrecht, Utrecht (Mar 06 2011)
- Orgelpark, Amsterdam (Mar 13 2010)
- Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain (Feb 15 2010)
- Orgelpark, Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Nov 21 2009)
Tom Johnson
Tom Johnson (b. 1939) belongs to a rich tradition of artists, from Marcel Duchamp through John Cage, who prefer ‘finding’ to ‘creating’. In Johnson’s case, a surprising musical beauty is found in the regularity, logic and symmetry of pre-existing mathematical structures. A clarity of texture, an ear for transparent harmony and a preference for simple and elegant rhythmical designs are more than mere characteristics of Johnson’s sound world, they are structural determinants that drive the forms themselves.
