Computer Music For The University Of Illinois

Computer Music From The University Of Illinois
Hiller/Isaacson/Baker
Manufactured by MGM Records
1967

Purchased on impulse this recording turned out to be very interesting. I found a mention of the album in Billboard as a "Low Price Classical Special Merit."

I don't know enough about who, at that time, might have been competing for attention in "computer" music. A "discount" nod from Billboard may be as much as the creators could have hoped for. The recording must have been considered "novelty" and the distribution was limited.

Think back to when you finally had access to a computer. For me it was in the 80s when I was got my hands on the Mac Plus. That was an expensive machine back then and could be consider the first, after the Apple Lisa, truly user friendly computer.

Then go back to 1967 and consider what type of computer was available. The album cover illustrates the answer to my question and that is a computer driven by card data. That meant that a person had to, basically, create a "punch" hole on a card board card and feed the card into a machine. I don't know for sure... but possibly a very large surplus U.S. military machine.

The point is that it took a lot of work and creativity to make this recording.

Side one is very nice, with added "real" strings (violins) to the second section of that side. This music seems like an attempt to "mask" the nature of the sounds the computer could make. To create music that may sounds a touch more as if it was produced by "real"instruments. To do so was a challenge, to be sure. I would have been satisfied with that approach, but side two offered up a pleasant surprise. The creators allowed the short staccato notes or tones the computer was good at producing to shine through. They made music that must have seemed "futuristic" at the time. For me, today, it is great retro science fiction music but also, if you know anything about technology of the day, a real achievement in sound.

Sorry that I can not post a sample, the Computer Cantata, or parts of it from side 2, are available for download on Amazon.