Bob Kasenchak <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>I am slowly working through a book by American composer George Perle
>called something like "Twelve-Tone Tonality" that has been most
>helpful in understanding more about these ideas.  It is thick going
>but rewarding (it looks like set theory on paper!).  He deals more
>with Bartok, Berg and Webern than Schoenberg though.

Yeah.  "Twelve-Tone Tonality" is a very interesting book, but you should
be aware that it's solely about Perle's own personal method of composition,
which doesn't bear much relation to 'traditional' twelve-tone music.  But
it does provide insight into how an atonal composer thinks (though his book
of essays "The Listening Composer" is even better in that regard).  He uses
axes of (pitch) symmetry a lot, which is where the comparisons with Bartok
and Berg enter.

For an introduction to standard twelve-tone theory, I'd recommend "Serial
Composition and Atonality:  An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg,
Berg, and Webern", also by Perle.

Can you tell I'm a big Perle fan?

Dan Schmidt -> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]