Multimedia Strauss: Three Tone Poems, Interactive CD-ROM for IBM PC and Compatibles

Abstract

In spite of the fast pace at which electronic information is now speeding around the globe, the pace of the release of commercially viable interactive multimedia products in the field of music has been relatively slow. Hypercard, the application that was used for the first generation of these products, was first released in 1988, but today the choice of CD-ROMs remains limited. Of the available titles, jazz and popular music are proportionately better represented than classical music. One welcomes, therefore, Russell Steinberg's Richard Strauss.' Three Tone Poems, first released by Voyager in 1992 and licensed to Microsoft in 1994. three tone poems on the CD are Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, and Death and Transfiguration, as performed by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel. In authoring this multimedia product, Steinberg faced the inevitable comparisons between his work and that of his colleague at UCLA, Robert Winter. Winter is the pioneer in this area, having published for Voyager: Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 (1989), Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (1990), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet in C Major, K. 465 (1991) [reviewed below], and Antonin Dvorak's Symphony no. 9 (1994). Like Winter's work, Steinberg's CD-ROM sets a full musical rendering of a masterwork (or works, in this case) by a world-class orchestra within an instructional context composed of narrative/descriptive text, definitions of musical terms, and historical, biographical and orchestrational information, all of which is integrated and interactive for the user. It would be fair to say that Steinberg has measured up to Winter's high standard and has produced a useful and attractive product. principal distinction between the two versions of the Three Tone Poems is in the interface. earlier Macintosh version from Voyager makes an attempt to integrate and music, thus exploiting the visual dimension of the medium. effort deserves a salute, even if the result is disappointing. designer elected to adopt an imitation Aubrey Beardsley-art nouveau style of illustration, which does vaguely evoke Beardsley's gloriously wicked Salome illustrations, and is thus both pleasantly erotic and historically appropriate. Technically it even suits the purely black-and-white color scheme. But ultimately the execution of the is so poor that it falls far short of giving the program real visual appeal. illustrations turn out to be embarrassingly cartoonish, with the depiction of Till Eulenspiegel's antics on the gallows being one particularly bad example. In this Macintosh version the user is given the option, blessedly removed in the PC version, of viewing the art rather than reading the accompanying textual explication during the playthrough of the music. To choose this option is certainly to lessen the instructional impact; indeed, one is tempted to say, it is to vulgarize the experience of the music. In the newer Microsoft version of the product, the artwork in general has become neutral and abstract, and there is no apparent aim to integrate and music stylistically. This removes the possibility of the being a distraction, but it also means that the visual potential of the medium has not been utilized beyond mere marginal illustration. Other aspects of the interface need no specific commentary, apart from the assurance that navigation is easy and the many visual cues provide a user-friendly environment. One useful feature added in the Microsoft version is an aural rendering of glossary terms, which one accesses by clicking on a speaker icon. core content of the two versions is essentially the same, although a number of errors or infelicities in Voyager's Macintosh version have been cleaned up for the later Microsoft version. basic program consists of nine main sections, presented in typical menu style on the opening screen. These sections are the Pocket Guide, Close Reading, Master Orchestrator, Inside the Score, The Tone Poem, Pragmatic Romantic, Further Reading, Glossary, and Prankster's Game. …