Wire I (1980)

Album title: Music on a Long Thin Wire
Title: Wire I (Track 01)
Publisher: Lovely Music/Vital Records, New York
Date: 1980
Medium: 2 records 30 cm
Cover: P. Vitacco

Music on a Long Thin Wire by the American sound artist Alvin Lucier is based on an installation in which a thin wire is stretched across a room, runs over bars with magnetic cartridges at both ends and is made to vibrate by an electro-magnetic arrangement with a horseshoe magnet. During the performance, Lucier slowly and continuously varies the strength of the stimulation of the wire, thus creating different sound images, but he does not change the frequency of the stimulation within a piece. The set-up of the installation, i.e. the tension of the wire, its length and strength, as well as the arrangement of the excitation electrics, decide on the resulting sound; Lucier does not aim for conscious control and resulting composition during a piece.

PS