Course Materials

Erik Satie: Vexations, score and music (excerpt).

Terry Riley: In C (1964)

Original recording (instrumental ensemble)

Another version (chamber ensemble)

Version for orchestra

Musical score here.

Steve Reich: Come Out

Brian Eno: Music For Airports (Ambient 1)

Alvin Lucier: I am sitting in a room

(Optional) In Bb (YouTube crowdsourced video/music project)

Here are some materials related to this morning’s lecture on various currents in early electronic music:

The Futurists

Marinetti’s Futurust Manefesto (1909), the philosophical foundations of Futurism

Russolo’s Intonarumori (noise instruments) in an exhibition and in performance.

Mechanical and early electronic instruments

Thaddeus Cahill’s Telharmonium (1906)

George Antheil’s Ballet Mecanique (1924) — also a version at the National Gallery showing instruments.

The Theremin, played by Clara Rockmore (virtuosi)

Musique concrète

Pierre Schaeffer – “Etude aux Chemins de Fer”

Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry’s Symphony for a Man Alone, Mvt. 1:  Prossopopeé I

Elektronische Musik

Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Studie I (1953)

Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der Jünglinge (1955/1956)

Varese and the Phillips Pavilion

Details on the building itself, images and descriptions of the work

Some further background, images, and virtual video

Poème électronique (1958), with video “overlay”

Marc Treib’s Space Calculated in Seconds, a book on the piece

Deatils on the “Vitual Electronic Poem Project“, a contemporary realization

Thanks, all, for a nice day of sharing and discussion.

As a fun post-project “assignment”, please listen to the music from A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick), created using Moog Synthesizers. These pieces, like all of Carlos’s work, were meticulously constructed, “orchestrated”, and realized, sometimes note by note.

Realization of Beethoven’s 9th symphony (Movement #4):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MCnnfXPSHw

Realization of Henry Purcell’s Music for the funeral of Queen Mary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-mDTdeKR8
–> Note that this video presents the version presented in the film’s introduction. It’s slightly “NSFW” and is not intended to endorse the film, just to present the music.

And the best for last, an excerpt from Timesteps.

Timesteps (original piece):
http://vimeo.com/46998648

If you dig around for others, be careful, there are many “imposter” versions of these and similar pieces realized from a MIDI file with a low-quality synthesizer “presets”!