JOHN CHOWNING - Stria (Reissue) - LP - Vinyl [FEB 27]

LP - Standard Edition Black Vinyl Repress. 

Dr. John Chowning (b. 1934) is a pioneering computer musician, composer and professor who, in 1967, discovered the FM synthesis algorithm. This breakthrough in electronic music allowed for simple, yet rich timbres described as sounding "real." With this discovery, Chowning composed singular, dramatic electronic music and changed the timbre of music forever. Chowning utilised the potential of computers to synthesise sounds according to programmed instructions.

The composer's use of his own FM algorithms, digital synthesis with computers and the new compositional concepts offered by a programmable musical structure combine to create some of the most original and unique electronic music ever created. The compositions on this LP were realised between 1966 and 1981 and the music on this LP, with the exception of Stria, was originally released on CD in Germany (Wergo, 1988). The version of Stria included here contains a section not included on the Wergo CD. Thus, this version of Stria is complete. This is the first time these purelydigital recordings have been released on an analog medium.

The original dynamics of these groundbreaking compositions have been preserved on this LP. As a result, listeners are advised to increase volume with caution. In 1975, John Chowning founded the CCRMA - Center For Computer Research In Music and Acoustics at Stanford University. Through Stanford, Chowning licensed his groundbreaking algorithms to Yamaha resulting in numerous new instruments including the iconic DX series of keyboards. In 1972, his composition Tureens which is included on this LP, was the first to create the illusion of continuous 360-degree space using four speakers.

Technical Notes: All pieces on this LP are originally quadrophonic. The illusion of moving sound sources is thus projected from the surrounding environment given by four loud-speakers on the stereo-basis. STRIA was composed using Chowning’s own program to compile the musical structure into note-lists and MUSIC 10 (by D. Poole/Tovar) to generate the sounds in software-synthesis.

The original quadrophonic version utilised 12 bits, two different sampling rates being used to accommodate the enormous amount of data on the magnetic disc-packs available at that time. The original sound-data was processed by sampling-rate conversion and digital mixes to achieve the stereo version presented on this CD. SABELITH and TURENAS were synthesised originally using Smiths’ SCORE and MUSIC 10. However, their format was changed from direct sound-samples to a command stream for a special purpose computer, the System Concepts Digital Synthesiser, designed by Peter Samson, one of the first large-scale digital synthesisers for real-time sound processing- one was designed for CCRMA in the late seventies. For this recording the sounds were recorded directly from the synthesiser computing the samples in real-time. PHONE was realised with the System Concepts Digital Synthesiser using again Chowning’s own program to create the note list.

The master tape of this CD was made directly from the computer system at CCRMA which generated and stored the sound data in digital format. No analog recording was involved at any stage of the production and editing process. JOHN M. CHOWNING was born n Salem, New Jersey, in 1934. He studied composition in Paris for thee years with Nadia Boulanger. In 1966 he received the doctorate in composition from Stanford University, where he studied with Leland Smith. 

With the help of Max Mathews of Bell Telephone Laboratories and David Poole of Stanford in 1964 he set up a computer music program using the computer system of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. This was the first implementation of an on-line computer music system ever. In 1967, John Chowning discovered the frequency modulation (FM)algorithm in which both carrier-frequency and the modulating-frequency are within the audio band. This breakthrough in the synthesis of timbres allowed a very simple yet elegant way of creating and controlling time-varying spectra. 

 Over the next six years he worked toward turning this discovery into a system of musical importance. In 1973, he and Stanford University began a relationship with Yamaha (Nippon Gakki) in Japan, which led to the most successful synthesiser series in the history of electronic musical instruments. John Chowning has received fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and was artist-in-residence with the Kunstlerprogramm des Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdiensts for the City of Berlin in 1974, and guest artist in IRCAM in 1978-79, in 1981and in 1985. John Chowning currently teaches computer-sound synthesis andcomposition at Stanford’s Department of Music and is director of the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), one of the world’s leading centers for computer music and related research in the world. 

Tracklist: 

A1        Phoné
A2        Turenas

B1        Stria
B2        Sabelithe