Ron Chaplin asks:

>>I wonder if you could explain to me what tension-release is in music?

And John Smyth responds:

>Sing the "A" without the "men."
>
>For Mahler, sing the "A," go grocery shopping, then sing the "men."
>
>For Bruckner, sing "A A A A A A A A," then "men."
>
>For Copland and Tchaikovsky, sing "Ah....."men."
>
>For early Schoenberg, sing "A...."
>
>For later Schoenberg, sing "A, C, B, F, C#, D#," then "F#, Eb, etc."

John missed a critically important example.  For Boulez, connect a Mack
truck leaf spring to the National Grid, excite it with electric spaghetti
and add a singing horse from the Camargue while gazing at a hologram of the
Rosetta Stone.

Tim Mahon
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