The enormous capacities of primitive objects carved from trees or stamped from metal sheets: violins, cellos, trumpets, pianos.
I'm interested in writing for real people at this point. To create the sound of a violin -- wow! I can't do that on a computer.
--Paul Lansky-- in acoustic-instrument mode.
Mr. Lansky has written a new chapter, or at least a fat footnote, in the annals of artistic reinvention. A professor at Princeton, he was a pioneering figure in the computer music field and wrote one of its important programs, Cmix. (He also earned a place of honor with Radiohead fans when the band used an excerpt from an early piece.) But Mr. Lansky has abandoned the art form that made his name and has turned to more traditional composition.
“I hate to say this, but I think I'm done," Mr. Lansky said. “Basically I've said what I've had to say. Here I am, 64, and I find myself at what feels like the beginning of a career. I'm interested in writing for real people at this point."
While his comments may sound incendiary in the world of computer music composers, Mr. Lansky's long years as a mentor and his self-deprecating outlook seem to have tempered the response.
“His decision is mostly about his own personal life and personal experiences," said Russell Pinkston, a professor of composition at the University of Texas, Austin, and the director of its electronic music studios. “He felt he had done what he could do within that approach."
In some ways Mr. Lansky's shift is emblematic of the field's disintegration, at least from the way it was constructed even a decade ago.
