Ben Johnston

about

Ben Johnston (Benjamin Burwell Johnston, Jr., Macon, Georgia, USA, March 15, 1926 – July 21, 2019) was an American contemporary music composer using "just intonation" (system of tuning). He was called "one of the foremost composers of microtonal music" by Philip Bush (1997) and "one of the best non-famous composers this country has to offer" by John Rockwell (1990). Johnston taught composition and theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1951 to 1986, before retiring to North Carolina. He was in contact with avant-garde figures such as John Cage, La Monte Young, and Iannis Xenakis (Gann 1995). Johnston's students have included Stuart Saunders Smith, Neely Bruce, Thomas Albert, Michael Pisaro, Manfred Stahnke, and Kyle Gann. He also considered his practice of just intonation to have influenced other composers, including James Tenney and Larry Polansky (Bermel 1995) Johnston began as a traditional composer of art music before working with Harry Partch. He helped the senior musician to build instruments and use them in the performance and recording of new compositions. Partch then arranged for Johnston to study with Darius Milhaud at Mills College (Duckworth 1995, 122). In 1952, Johnston met Cage, who invited him to come to New York to study with him in the summer. Though Johnston decided he did not have sufficient time to prepare for such studies, he did go to New York for several weeks and assisted, along with Earle Brown, in the production of Cage's e

top songs

albums

Ben Johnston: String Quartets Nos. 6, 7, & 8

Ben Johnston: String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 4, & 9

Ben Johnston: String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 & 10

Ben Johnston: Ruminations

Ben Johnston: Ponder Nothing

Amazing Grace

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The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 1

String Quartets Nos. 6, 7, & 8

Microtonal Piano

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Tellus #14 'Just Intonation'

String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 4, & 9

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Ponder Nothing

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