| Author/Contributor(s): | Xenakis, Iannis ; Weibel, Peter ; Brummer, Ludger ; Kanach, Sharon ; Barrett, Richard ; Bourotte, Rudolphe ; Couprie, Pierre ; Delhaye, Cyrille ; Despres, Julio ; Estrada, Julio |
| Publisher: | Hatje Cantz |
| Date: | 06/16/2020 |
| Binding: | Hardcover |
| Condition: | NEW |
On the legacy of Xenakis' innovations in music notation for contemporary composers
Trained in mechanical engineering, Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) transformed mathematical models into architectonic musical entities.
In the late 1970s Xenakis developed a digital apparatus that rendered waveforms drawn on a tablet as musical compositions. The device was called UPIC, or Unité Polyagogique Informatique du CEMAMu, named for the French contemporary music research institute that Xenakis had helped found a decade earlier. The device proved to be an essential tool for the development of contemporary music--a version of the software is still used by today's composers. Featuring archival materials, this book examines the origins of Xenakis' UPIC. It also serves as a compositional tool: embedded QR codes allow readers to create their own sound-images from UPIC compositions.