Hiller/Isaacson Illiac Suite for string quartet

As one of the first compositions written by computer, you would expect the Illiac Suite to sound mechanical or strange and atonal, but it is neither of those things. In fact, in some spots, it's quite beautiful. It's really exciting that two guys using ridiculously old technology could produce something of this caliber.

The first movement has two distinct sections. The first section is playful, and has each instrument playing their own playful lines with a lot of movement separately, in something that feels like a conversation, or a dance (basic counterpoint). Right at the end thy play in little duets, and they end playfully with a unison pluck. After that is a sound that is very classic to me. It is pretty and slow with a melody in the violin and a countermelody switching between the other parts. Occasionally the other parts will get to play without the violin; it mostly consists of duets, but occasionally all of the parts play together. It has a fairly wide dynamic range. After that it speeds up again, feeling like the beginning of the movement again. I would call it ABA, but it isn't really a repetition of the beginning, although it ends with a pluck like the beginning of the section. Even with the slow middle section, the movement has a very bright quality. It's sweet and light.

The second movement feels very different from the first. First of all, it's slow. It's also homophonic, and for the first part each part seems to be changing notes at the same time, but the lines seem unrelated in terms of notes (although they aren't dissonant). The playing gets more orderly as the song goes on, and a distinct melody and distinct harmonies develop until it has turned into what you would think of as a baroque string quartet. The rhythms toward the end even sound baroque. The mood is also different. Rather than being sprightly and playful, this movement is serene.

The third movement is again very different. While still very consonant, the lines are very different from eachother. Instead of just typical playing, there's plucking, sliding, vibrato, and beating of hands against the instruments (or at least I think that's what that sound is, I don't know enough about strings to give a better description). They're playing with different sounds. This slowly turns into something that I'm going to assume is one the twelve tone scale. The instruments are playing together now instead of independently. Then it goes back to each instrument playing with some different technique, and then they're playing together again. It switches back to the fast disconnected sound one last time, before the cello plays a beautiful slow solo line with the upper parts interjecting occasionally. The third movement is all about the contrasts between the uncontrolled sections and the homophonic sections. Obviously, using the twelve tone scale, it's not meant to be happy, or serene. The twelve tone scale always sounds a little jarring or uncomfortable, but it works really well when trying to create tension or draw attention.

As with the others, the fourth movement is its own piece (in fact, I think they could probably all be performed separately, they all sound so different) There isn't a real sense of key in this movement, but the lines do all seem to relate to one another. They're all playing at the same time, even if the rhythms are a bit different. The mood is also very different. I wouldn't say that it's frenetic, but it's very far from calm, as the fast notes and the lack of resolution show.

All in all, I'd say that this suite was one of my favorite pieces out of all of the assignments. It's beautifully written (by a computer!) and the work that must have gone into getting the computer to produce four completely different styles is more than I can possibly imagine. They're wonderful. Are they ever done anymore?