Suitable for those interested in contemporary musicology or media history, this title offers a translation of the author's pioneering work - at once a journal of his experiments in sound composition and a treatise on the raison d'etre of concrete music.

Originally published: A la recherche d'une musique concrete / Pierre Schaeffer. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1952.

The Treatise on Musical Objects is regarded as Pierre Schaeffer’s most important work on music and its relationship with technology. Schaeffer expands his earlier research in musique concrète to suggest a methodology of working with sounds based on his experiences in radio broadcasting and the recording studio. Drawing on acoustics, physics, and physiology, but also on philosophy and the relationship between subject and object, Schaeffer’s essay summarizes his theoretical and practical work in music composition. Translators Christine North and John Dack present an important book in the history of ideas in Europe that will resonate far beyond electroacoustic music.

DVD features highlights from the conference held at Columbia University.

Cement and concrete are of great interest to the construction and civil engineering communities. This study provides an appreciation of the complex nature of these materials and a realization that most of the failures involving concrete constructions are preventable.