From Xenakis's Upic to Graphic Notation Today

By Rudolphe Bourotte and Pierre Couprie

On the legacy of Xenakis' innovations in music notation for contemporary composers

Trained in mechanical engineering, Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) transformed mathematical models into architectonic musical entities.

In the late 1970s Xenakis developed a digital apparatus that rendered waveforms drawn on a tablet as musical compositions. The device was called UPIC, or Unit Polyagogique Informatique du CEMAMu, named for the French contemporary music research institute that Xenakis had helped found a decade earlier. The device proved to be an essential tool for the development of contemporary music--a version of the software is still used by today's composers.

Featuring archival materials, this book examines the origins of Xenakis' UPIC. It also serves as a compositional tool: embedded QR codes allow readers to create their own sound-images from UPIC compositions.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3775747419
• ISBN13: 9783775747417
• Release Date: June 2020
• Publisher: Hatje Cantz
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.1" x 6.1" x 8.6"