Computer Music (side A)

The 1970 compilation Computer Music groups three composers making music with computers at a time when they were not simple or convenient tools for programming sound.  The liner notes point out that the three composers all used different software to create their pieces, which is impressive, given how hard any of these programs would have been to write.  Perhaps because of the difficulty of generating the music, or perhaps because of expectations within the academic world (all three composers had ties to the Columbia / Princeton Electronic Music axis), the results are remarkably similar.  The whole album exhibits an obvious debt to Varèse's ideas about music as shifting plates.  Traditional notions of tonality, harmony, and rhythm are de-emphasized here, as sounds float through space without any central referent.  The timbres used are quite conservative by modern standards — these sounds clearly predate the popularity of harsh noise that has now pervaded so much electronic music.  J.K. Randall contributes three short pieces, one of which nicely integrates operatic vocals without their standing out from the sound space.  Barry Vercoe provides a single short piece, which limits him to 4 minutes on the album.  Charles Dodge's long piece "Changes" fills side B — as the title indicates, it moves rapidly through a series of ideas without a clear, unifying idea.  Computer Music employs a standard cover design from a series of classical LPs, with text surrounding a square image.  In this case, the image and title font break from the series's usual aspiration to beauty — they instead draw attention to the computer technology used to make the music.  On the other hand, the analog technology used to create the recording de-emphasizes the digital qualities of their sources.