Label: New World Records

王道なHeliodor関連の音盤で知られ、またケージとの作曲作品[HPSCHD]やイリノイ大学実験音楽スタジオを設立した事でも有名な米コンポーザーLejaren Hiller。Creel Poneにも登場している人物ですが、こちらは絶版となったCRIのLPを纏め上げた非常にオイシイ編集CD。1963年~1974年までの約10年間、作曲家として最も輝かしい時期の一つを記録したもので、純アコースティックから電子音楽、そしてコンピューターミュージックまでと多様な楽曲を収録。





Lejaren Hiller (1924-1994) was a musically eclectic composer, often combining several different types of techniques in the same piece. In the mid-sixties, he asserted that his "objective in composing music by means of computer programming is not the immediate realization of an aesthetic unity, but the providing and evaluating of techniques whereby this goal can eventually be realized." In this sense Hiller was a forward-looking composer, in that each piece was an experiment that lead toward the next piece.

The three works contained in this collection－Computer Cantata (1963), Quartet No. 6 for Strings (1973), A Portfolio for Diverse Performers and Tape (1974)－demonstrate his love of musical diversity and eclecticism. These works also exhibit other trends that are common in Hiller's music, including collaboration, an interest in microtonality, symmetrical and arch forms, and indeterminate instrumentation. The works span a little more than a decade, from 1963 to 1974, which were amongst his greatest years as a composer. They also use a variety of instrumentations, from purely acoustic to electronic, and computer music with live ensemble.

These three works are drawn from out-of-print CRI LPs. Virtually none of Hiller's music is currently available today and this reissue restores some of his most representative works to circulation.