Music From Mathematics:1st computer music IBM/Bell Labs

$

27

Music From Mathematics-- Max V. Mathews: Bicycle Built for Two (1961); Numerology (1960); The Second Law (1961); May Carol; Joy To The World / John R. Pierce: Molto Amoroso; Variations in Timbre and Attack (1961); Stochatta (1959); Five Against Seven--Random Canon; Beat Canon; Melodie / Newman Guttman: Pitch Variations (1957) / James Tenney: Noise Study / S.D. Speeth: Theme and Variations / David Lewin: Study No.1 (1961); Study No.2 (1961) / Orlando Gibbons: Fantasia / Frere Jacques


label & cat. no.:
Decca DL 79103 pressed in:
USA date:
196? format:
LP condition:
Vinyl: vg (several light scuffs, plays with some light crackling; sticker on label)
Cover: vg- (spine held together by clear tape; back has small writing and large sticker residue spot; 1/2" split on bottom seam) description:
This rare and fascinating lp, one of the greatest early electronic records, documents the first music ever synthesized by a computer. These recordings represent the earliest output of the composers and scientists who worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 50s and 60s under the uniting principle that "any sound can be described mathematically by a sequence of numbers." All of the pieces are played from punch cards by the IBM 7090 Computer and Digital to Sound Transducer (reminds me of Atari 2600 sounds though of course this predates Atari by several decades!), ranging from avant garde abstract atmospheres to microtonal just-intonation tuning experiments to classical pieces to electronic versions of pop standards. Bicycle Built for Two (by Max Mathews, the pioneer who inspired the creation of the popular digital audio processing software MAX named in his honor) features a computer-synthesized voice that influenced filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in his staging of HAL's death scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Highly recommended, essential proto-synth sounds.

artist info from album notes:
In the late 1950s, Bell Labs hosted the first musicians to experiment with computers, and as a result of the release of this music on lp they later attracted composers Edgard Varese, James Tenney, and Jean-Claude Risset to work at their studios. Pierce was a pioneering early electronic composer, a psychoacoustician, an engineer regarded as the father of communications satellites, and a science fiction author; he worked with Varese and Risset. Mathews is generally considered the very first computer musician; he worked with Jon Appleton and at IRCAM with Pierre Boulez, he programmed the software used to create most of the pieces on this lp (Music I and II), and he would go on to invent many digital audio techniques, hardware, and software (including Music 360) as well as inspire the creation of the realtime processing software MAX currently in wide use by many musicians and named in his honor. Tenney studied under Lejaren Hiller, Kenneth Gaburo, Henry Brant, and Varese, and worked with Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Harry Partch, John Cage, and Conlon Nancarrow. Lewin studied under Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, Edward T. Cone, and Earl Kim. The IBM 7090 computer was also used by Iannis Xenakis and Lejaren Hiller as a compositional tool. Should also be of interest to fans of Gottfried Michael Koenig, Herbert Eimert, Pierre Schaeffer, Bernard Parmegiani, Barry Vercoe, Milton Babbitt, Miller Puckette, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Paul Lansky, Larry Austin, John Chowning, Barry Vercoe, Charles Dodge, Pietro Grossi, Joel Chadabe, and James Dashow. Check out my other items for more avant garde/experimental, early electronic/electroacoustic, psych, 20th century classical, and artist records. US Shipping - Media Mail is $5.00 for 1-2 single records, then $0.65 for each additional; Priority Mail is also available but pricing depends on zipcode (you can check eBay's calculated shipping price at the bottom of this page); other expedited shipping options and insurance are all available on request. Combine multiple items to save on shipping.
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