The machine’s four cardinal humours might be silence, radiation, momentum and magnetism. Silence is manifest as sudden change or stillness (“Off”), radiation as vibration, particularly sound and light (“Time”), momentum as the predictable repetition of the oscillator (“On”), and magnetism as an invisible force which, in the case of many machines, is memory. Any tonality present in The Machine’s Four Humours is derived from the machine or based upon 144,72 Hz, the fundamental of Mars (ancient, still machines).

[xi-90]

Premiere

• November 2, 1990, Montréal musiques actuelles / New Music America, Acousmonium: Concert 6: Électro clips, Théâtre Les Loges, Montréal (Québec)