The Synthesizer Video (DVD)

Most people associate the birth of electronic music with the development of the Moog Synthesizer by Bob Moog in the 1970s. However, as you'll discover from this fascinating video, the earliest electronic music was performed in New York in 1906 on the Telharmonium, a giant sound generator weighing 200 tons. Needless to say, its practical application was limited by its size, but it stirred enough interest in other musicians to cause them to explore the possibilities of electronic music, leading to:

• the Trautonium, a forerunner of the synthesizer in 1930
• widespread experimentation with electronic music in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s
• the use of electronic music in rock and jazz, as pioneered by The Beatles

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You'll enjoy performances by such world-renowned musicians as Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Miles Davis, while composer Pierre Boulez defends the use of electronic music and modern technology in the music of today.