Music from SEAMUS Volume 2

various artists compilation - Music from SEAMUS Volume 2

This is the second in a series of annual releases that features the 'best of' works from the annual conferences held by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS).

Time Mark (1989) composed by Scott A. Wyatt
composition for solo percussion with tape accompaniment
Glenn Schaft - percussion

Within Time Mark, are specific considerations including a continuum of timbre - thus providing for an integration of tape and live sounds without the loss of individuality, and spatial disposition - wherein the location from which the sounds emanate within the performance space is also a parameter of the composition.

Liaisons (1991) composed by Jeffrey Hass
composition for computer-generated tape

Liaisons is constructed from a variety of oboe samples, including key clicks and multiphonics. Digital signal processing, accomplished primarily with Csound and linear predictive coding, was used to explore, dissect, modify, and reassemble these sounds to produce the primary material of the piece. By drastically slowing down some of the oboe samples, intriguing microscopic elements not heard in real-time were isolated and enhanced. The piece, then, is a collaboration between real world sounds and digital technology.

Barroco (1991) composed by Barry Schrader
for harpsichord and electronics
Alissa Rhode - harpsichord

Barroco is the second section of "Excavations", a two-movement work for harpsichord and electronics. It parodies bits and pieces of Baroque harpsichord music, although there are no actual quotations. Structurally, Barroco is in what I call "reverse entropy" form: Fragments of material derived from a one-measure theme presented in the introduction come back in different ways, finally insisting on the stasis of repetition.

Paraptra (1991) composed by Cort Lippe
composition for computer-generated tape

Paraptra, for stereo tape, was created using the program Max, which was developed by Miller Puckette, and whose technical advice made this piece possible. The digital mix was done at IRCAM, Paris, with the valuable assistance of Xavier Bordelais and Franck Rossi. The material for the tape is made up solely of digitally transformed and processed harp and classical guitar sounds. Transformations include: frequency shifting, spatial panning, harmonizing, random amplitude modulating, and time-stretching routines which were written by the composer and Puckette for the 4X real-time signal processor. The piece is characterized by a very wide dynamic range, and contains four main sections.

Amalgam I (1988) composed by Charles Norman Mason
composition for oboe and computer-generated tape
David Weber - oboe

Within Amalgam I, the sounds on the tape capture certain characteristics of the double-reed sound while the oboe expands its sonic possibilities with the use of multiphonics and microtones, thus producing a melding of the two sounds.

Wordscapes (1991) composed by George Todd
composition for computer-generated tape
Word
Water
Green Idea

Wordscapes is a set of etudes each a study of one or two words which have been sampled, analyzed, and re-synthesized using the Synclavier's SEM and re-synthesis program. This unique method of re-synthesis divides the analyzed sound into composer-determined time "frames" each of which is a harmonic spectrum. These spectra elide with the frames before and after them creating a dynamic timbral change. The spectra can be manipulated in a variety of ways. The etudes here - "Word", "Green Idea" and "Water" are based on words spoken by a female voice.

CAUTION TO THE WINDS (1991) composed by James Mobberley
composition for piano with tape accompaniment
Richard Cass - piano

It is the fifth in a series of works which combine a solo instrument with a tape accompaniment comprised only of sounds derived from the solo instrument itself. In this case the piano sounds were recorded and then sampled and manipulated on a Fairlight Series IIX to make the tape part.
CAUTION TO THE WINDS is programmatic only in the broadest sense; the title makes reference to the raw energy that is a major part of the arsenal to be found both in piano music and in electronic music, and reflects the free, quasi-rhapsodic nature of the work. (from the liner notes)

Tracklisting:

1. Scott A. Wyatt - Time Mark {8:54}

2. Jeffrey Hass - Liaisons {5:08}

3. Barry Schrader - Barroco {6:19}

4. Cort Lippe - Paraptra {14:22}

5. Charles Norman Mason - Amalgam I {8:54}

6. George Todd - Wordscapes {5:38}

7. James Mobberley - CAUTION TO THE WINDS {5:33}

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CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. 3: University of Illinois

various artists compilation - CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. 3: University of Illinois

Yesterday student works were presented. Today, a compilation of works by the faculty of the University of Illinois is presented. This came out during the same year, 1989, as the compilation posted yesterday.

From the liner notes: This is the third in a series of digital recordings of new computer music compositions, created by composers working at major American computer music centers affiliated with CDCM: Consortium to Distribute Computer Music. CDCM's purpose is to create and distribute worldwide a recorded and documented repertoire of the best new computer music. CDCM establishes the highest possible recording standards, set and maintained by the charter studios, including Bregman Electronic Music Studio at Dartmouth, CEMI: Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia at the University of North Texas, Center for Contemporary Music at Mills, Experimental Music Studios and Computer Music Project at Illinois, Winham Laboratory at Princeton, and iEAR Studios at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been a hotbed for computer and electronic music activities since the late 1950's, when Lejaren Hiller began his experiments in computer-assisted composition, a first in the world, and founded the Experimental Music Studios (Scott Wyatt, current director). Over the years EMS has served as a lab for analog and digital synthesis and as an umbrella for other related activities. Computer synthesis and analysis projects were begun in 1966. In 1984 a separate lab, the Computer Music Project (James Beauchamp, director), was established for research and compositional projects requiring original software and tools for sample input/output.

Tracklisting:

1. Salvatore Martirano - Sampler: Everything Goes When the Whistle Blows {11:37}

2. John Melby - Chor der Waisen {10:18}

3. Sever Tipei - Cuniculi, for five tubas {10:36}

4. Scott A. Wyatt - Still Hidden Laughs {8:39}

5. Herbert Brün - i toLD You so! {13:06}

6. Carla Scaletti - sunSurgeAutomata {5:09}

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