Music of the Dada

And you thought Dada was all about the art. George Antheil, Esquire columnist and composer (not to mention that he was Ezra Pound's drinking buddy), put together a score for the film Ballet Mecanique back in the 20s. Performing the music turned out to be impossible, since he had a vision for 16 player pianos to play together, but the mechanical action of the damn things couldn't be synchronized. Modern electronics eventually rescued the music, though, so that it could accompany Dada exhibits at the National Gallery. NPR has details and excerpts of the music. BTW, NPR is now the officially the last organization on earth to start a blog. Strong work.