Lovely Music, Ltd. - VR 1011/12 (US, 1990)
www.discogs.com/Alvin-Lucier-...
00:00 A. 1
18:42 B. 2
37:21 C. 3
55:49 D. 4
"Music on a Long Thin Wire" was commissioned in 1977 by Donald Funes for the Live Electronic Music Ensemble of the Crane School of Music, State University College of New York at Potsdam.
These recordings were made by the composer on May 10, 1979 in the Rotunda of the U.S. Custom House, Bowling Green, NY City.
This piece, like Lucier's "I Am Sitting in a Room", is another new music classic. The initial idea originated in 1977 when the composer, working with physicist John Trefny, constructed a modern version of the Pythagorean monochord. From this first construction and after much experimentation, the installation came into its form of a wire extended across a large room or space, clamped to tables at both ends. Both ends of the wire is connected to the loudspeaker terminals of a power amp, and a sine wave oscillator (variable in frequency and loudness) is at the input of the amp. A magnet is placed over the wire at one end, and contact microphones attached to wooden bridges pick up the sound of the wire and feed it to a sound system that plays throughout the space. The wire plays itself: all changes in volume, timbre, harmonic structure, rhythmic and cyclic patterning are affected by the tuning of the oscillator, fatique, air currents, heat and cooling, subtle vibrations from human movement, etc. The piece is exceedingly meditative and elegant, "pure music" at its purest.
1 июл 2024
