actuellecd

Stochastic String Quartet

James Tenney

Stochastic String Quartet

  • James Tenney
  • Year of composition: 1963
  • Duration: 2:48
  • Instrumentation: string quartet

This was my first effort to use the computer in the process of composition (as distinct from sound-generation) for a piece of instrumental music, using conventional notation. It is fairly short, having originally been intended as a kind of demonstration of possible musical uses of the computer, but its harmonic and rhythmic complexities are such that it had received only one public performance before the Quatuor Bozzini made it a part of their regular repertoire. How times do change!

James Tenney

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