A mid-20th century electronic composition

[suitablyemoname]

I'm trying to remember the title of an electronic composition from the mid 20th century. It consisted entirely of computer-generated noise, and although the noises were intended to mimic the sound of hundreds of people talking in a crowded room, the gimmick was that taken together, they formed a melody. The title was a bunch of words smushed

Comments

By way of my brother, a composer..

[evilegg]

Perhaps "Notjustmoreidlechatter" by Paul Lansky?

http://www.music.princeton.edu/~paul/compositions.html

http://www.music.princeton.edu/~paul/sounds/notjustmoreidlechatter.mp2

Re: By way of my brother, a composer..

[suitablyemoname]

That's the one, thanks!

Re: By way of my brother, a composer..

[inner_v0ice]

HOLY CRAPOLA.
That is a serious contender for "most amazing thing I have ever heard." Thanks for posting and asking about it, or else I would never have heard of it or heard it!

Re: By way of my brother, a composer..

[suitablyemoname]

Hah, if you liked that, how do you feel about this? (25 minutes long, be warned.)

Gavin Bryars was recording a soundtrack for a film about homeless people, and he found this one guy (who, as it happens, was completely sober), who sang this verse of a spiritual in perfect pitch. He made a recording, and brought it back to the workshop, where he started to work on it, but left to get some coffee. When he came back, the people around him were weeping, because he'd left the tape on a loop and it had played the same verse over and over for the last 45 minutes.

So he abandoned the film and made an orchestral recording instead.

[deepbluemermaid]

Hmm. Maybe try asking at classical_share if nobody here can help you?