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%aOffice of the Director of Graduate Programs
%1Faculty of Arts and Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA. 15260

Confidential Statement Concerning Otto E. Laske
.end

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%aKnowledge of the Applicant:%1
I had the occasion to meet Mr. Laske in 1973 while I was visiting the
studio at Utrecht.  At that time we had a lengthy discussion concerning
the use of computers as applied to music and, in particular, our own
interests.  In 1973 Mr. Laske visited the Stanford Artificial Intelligence
facility at which time he presented his work to a group
of interested composers and scientists.  In addition, we have corresponded
on numerous occasions.

%aEvaluation of Applicant's Work:%1
Mr. Laske is one of a group of theorecticians whose interest is applying to
music composition theories drawn from linguistic research.
Although there is no a priori reason
to suppose that a formal model of music is amenable to such an approach,
given the fundamentally different character of, for example, syntax and
meaning as applied to music and language even in highly restricted domains,
the fascination continues and will produce some insight into the problem
according to the musical intelligence of the researcher.  I consider Mr.
Laske to be superior in this regard.

Although I believe that it is perhaps pre-mature for any startling results to
be yielded from studies in, say, generative aesthetic theory (given how
little is known about perception), I also believe that it is important that
researchers having Mr. Laske's qualifications and interests be given the
opportunity, indeed encouragement, to work in a compositional environment
that is computer based (his use of the terms explicit model and protocol
are altogether dependent on computers) such as that which exists in Pittsburgh.
To be more precise, I believe that Mr. Laske would benefit enormously from
proximity to a group of active composers.

I find Mr. Laske's work to be highly abstract to the exclusion, as far as I
can tell, of any concrete results.  As I know of some of his difficulties
in finding a location where he might pursue his theories at a more concrete
level, this is not necessarily a criticism.  His single attempt at
implementation was unfortuneately aborted due to a reduction of staff
at the Utrecht facility.  I would think that with the knowledge and skills
represented at Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon Universities, Mr. Laske would
be in an ideal environment, which is at the same time challenging and
supportive, to attempt to realize some of his goals.
.end

                                       John M. Chowning
				       Deptartment of Music
				       Stanford University