Gena, Peter
Beethoven In Soho And Other Works
It could be said that Peter Genas (b. 1947) music has been a combination of three primary influences: Feldman, with his emphasis on sonority and non-linear continuity; algorithmic computer composition; and later, the minimalism of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and others (Julius Eastman included), which swept through the new-music world in the 1970s. The present disc documents all three of these influences, the dominant one being the algorithmic sonification of data. That is, some outside source is translated numerically into musical notes. Having previously employed other types of data, in the 1990s Gena started working with DNA as a result of his friendship with geneticist/pediatrician Dr. Charles Strom. Four of the works here-Chopins Catarrh, Dihydrotestosterone, Red Blood Cells, and Vaccinum-are based on DNA chains, fed into formulas (through the object-code language MAX/MSP) which convert the genetic material into long melodies.