Terry Jennings was a friend of La Monte Young’s, and he was the first composer to really get was Young was doing with long tones in pieces like the Trio for Strings. In December 1958, two months after Young finished the Trio, Jennings wrote a “Piano Piece.” It’s quasi-twelvetone and very quiet and spare. Beatiful chords held for a really long time, and often released at different times so that some notes of the chord drop out sooner than others. In June 1960 he wrote another “Piano Piece” this one also with quiet chords held for a very long time–until they’ve decayed all the way or longer. Both pieces are riveting. It’s hard to tell where the notes end and the silence begins. Pianist Joe Kubera played them beautifully. Jennings unfortunately died in 1981, and he’s fallen into undeserved obscurity–these pieces get played very very rarely.

The other pieces went really well too