The Music of American Composer Lejaren Hiller and an Examination of His Early Works Involving Technology

“Being a researcher, composer and computer musician, Mr. Bohn is in an experienced position to present a dense repertoire of information highlighting a glimpse of computer music history. He presents this book in a straightforward and organized fashion and thoroughly documents his research. To the present day computer musician with an academic background, the prose of the book will be simple, mechanical, but nonetheless, informative, being exhaustingly detailed in the technical aspects of early computer technology and comprehensive in the analysis of Hiller’s music…..definitely recommended to those computer musicians who are interested in Lejaren Hiller or who wish to gain a thoughtful and informative perspective on early day computer music history” – Jeannie H. Lee, Brown University

“This book written by James Bohn is an extensive study on the life and work of the American composer Lejaren Hiller (1924 – 1994)…..the book goes through a very good survey of Hiller’s general ideas about music, defining him as a “musically eclectic composer, who often combined several different types of techniques in the same piece”….Numerous musical examples are extracted from Hiller’s scores….and the author provides a very clear explanation of some of his particular writing techniques…..making the reader more acquainted with these representative works of the composer.” – Bruno Ruviaro, Dartmouth College

Table of Contents:
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgements
1. Lejaren Hiller: Life and Works
2. A Brief Overview of Lejaren Hiller’s Computer Music
3. The ILLIAC I Computer
4. The Experimental Music Studio
5. Data Processing System
6. The Coordinated Science eXperimental Computer
7. The ILLIAC II Computer
8. Common Stylistic Traits of Hiller’s Oeuvre
9. Quartet No. 4 for Strings, the ILLIAC Suite
10. Computer Cantata
11. Machine Music for Piano, Percussion, and Tape
12. HPSCHD
Appendix
Bibliography