The Ballet mécanique is Antheil's most famous—or notorious—piece. At its various premieres, it caused tremendous controversy, not to mention fistfights. Although it was very successful in Paris, it was a huge flop when it came to New York, and in fact Antheil's career as a "serious" composer never recovered from that debacle.
The re-created orchestra consisted of 16 MIDI-compatible grand player pianos, provided by the Gulbransen division of QRS Music, and three xylophones, four bass drums, a tam-tam, a siren, and three "airplane propellors," all controlled by MIDI, using robotics built by the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, under the direction of Eric Singer.
crap CBS news doco here
http://www.antheil.org/audio/CBSSundayMorningWeb.mov
