Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)

Started by gomro, May 10, 2007, 01:54:54 PM

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snyprrr

I couldn't wait to again hear that first Aki/MODE disc (1999), which I originally got as a promo at Tower (huge saw blade to the spine! :( >:( >:D). As I'm playing it, however, I seem to notice something that I just don't recall from before. Then I notice that this is a 2006 reissue with 96/24-bit remastering. Now, my question is, does anyone have the original issue of this, and can you say if the mastering/recording renders the entire image a bit on the hard side?

Though Takahashi playing is mindboggling, and though the recording really is pretty choice, there seems to be something extra that I can only chalk up to the new remastering (I feel like I'm going to haaave to find an original issue (without the cut-out)). Has anyone else who has this reissue noticed the particularly hard surface image? I think I particularly notice some spatial effects in Palimpsest that I'm not sure were there before (the whole ensemble is pretty spectacularly spaced across the whole left/right/back/forth continuum. Anyhow, just wondering if that's what I'm hearing.

The only other real problem I ever had with this disc, and I paid special attention last night, is the three percussion flubs that I do declare that I hear, and, I am sorry, but I do not accept any percussion flubs in my Xenakis! Three times I hear (and I think I mentioned it in an earlier post) a drumstick hit that sounds absolutely like an accident (which I don't hear on the Wergo version). Anyhow, I just can't handle even to perceive that there could be a mistake in Xenakis: the music is too precise to make a mistake, no?

Of course, other than that, the 2cds are pretty jawdropping from a pianistic point of view. Ms. Takahashi is really just a monster here, overpowering anyone foolish enough to play with her (except, perhaps, for the really unbelievable performance by Rohan de Saram in Paille in the Wind(triple stops ?????)). I can only recall how all too human Claude Helffer can sound at times (can't wait to compare).

snyprrr

Quote from: petrArch on April 25, 2010, 03:40:21 PM
Got this one yesterday.



At last a good-sounding recording of Eonta, along with some works I didn't yet have (Morsima-Amorsima and Paille in the Wind). I can finally put to rest the old Chants du Monde recording of Metastaseis, Pithoprakta and Eonta.

My original response to this was,...what? another Eonta? Well, I finally listened to it, and wow!, that is some spectacular brass playing!  There is so much detail in this recording that I think I actually listened to this piece for a change! I used to just think of this as a piano & brass piece, but these artists really make it a 'Being'. The recording is just spectacular, too.

I count

1) Chant du Monde
2) Mode I
3) Mode II
4) some French cd, w/Bouchard?
5) Teldec-London Brass*
6) ASKO Ens/Attacca

at least six recordings. This one's got to be in a class by itself. I wish I still had that Teldec to compare, but the original makes a good enough comparison (though, there is no mystery here, as in the new cd). So, wow, I'm finally a fan of Eonta after all these years, haha.

not edward

Quote from: snyprrr on June 07, 2010, 06:32:42 PM
4) some French cd, w/Bouchard?
Canadian, actually. (There's some bloody good musicmaking coming out of Montreal...and of course I'm stuck in Toronto. Boo.)

I picked up the EMI reissue of some old Xenakis recordings:


Though it fills some gaps, it's a reminder too how much performance standards in technically demanding new music have risen in the last generation or two.
"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

snyprrr

Quote from: edward on June 08, 2010, 05:39:07 AM
Canadian, actually. (There's some bloody good musicmaking coming out of Montreal...and of course I'm stuck in Toronto. Boo.)

I picked up the EMI reissue of some old Xenakis recordings:


Though it fills some gaps, it's a reminder too how much performance standards in technically demanding new music have risen in the last generation or two.

y'know, i was thinking the same thing, but listen again to Pludermacher's Herma. There's a feral, fist-full-of-notes approach here that is missing from the more I-can-play-anything crowd. However, in the brass playing, standards have certainly been surpassed. The Timpani version of Akrata is so fleet compared to the EMI. But, I do like the haplessness of some of these first recordings of post war music: you can really feel the danger.

mjwal

QuoteThe 'Dutch Miracle' 6cd boxset, wherein resides one of the most unlikely Xenakis recordings, has arrived! I spent $40 on 13mins of music
I love this too - and only got it off the shelf when I read your enthusiastic piece and realised I had that lovely magic  Dutch dip, which I bought for a couple of euros a decade ago. I must have been dozing first time round - I often play things to check and don't get back to them till later. By the way, Dufallo conducted the world premiere of Anemoessa, he says so in his interview with Xenakis, it must have been that one as X says (Nov '86): "Anemoessa was not performed again. That was the only performance. Maybe it is bad music." RD: "I don't think so myself." (My favourite book on modern music: Trackings - Composers speak with Richard Dufallo p.181).
The Violin's Obstinacy

It needs to return to this one note,
not a tune and not a key
but the sound of self it must depart from,
a journey lengthily to go
in a vein it knows will cripple it.
...
Peter Porter

snyprrr

Quote from: mjwal on June 09, 2010, 08:36:16 AM
By the way, Dufallo conducted the world premiere of Anemoessa, he says so in his interview with Xenakis, it must have been that one as X says (Nov '86): "Anemoessa was not performed again. That was the only performance. Maybe it is bad music." RD: "I don't think so myself." (My favourite book on modern music: Trackings - Composers speak with Richard Dufallo p.181).

I believe the notes say that the piece was played twice at two All-Xenakis-Nights, presumably the night of this recording, and the next one.

Thanks for that very poignant bit of info. Perhaps the same also applies to Nekuia, and hopefully that particular Erato/Tabachnik LP performance will make it to cd (along with Cendrees,...please!:-*)).

Glad to have a witness! (didn't bhodges say he had it? a critique?)

bhodges

Quote from: snyprrr on June 09, 2010, 12:09:41 PM
I believe the notes say that the piece was played twice at two All-Xenakis-Nights, presumably the night of this recording, and the next one.

Thanks for that very poignant bit of info. Perhaps the same also applies to Nekuia, and hopefully that particular Erato/Tabachnik LP performance will make it to cd (along with Cendrees,...please!:-*)).

Glad to have a witness! (didn't bhodges say he had it? a critique?)

Are you referring to the Holland Festival box?  Yes, I have it, but haven't listened to that Xenakis yet--perhaps in the next few days!  I actually got the box before I was listening to much Xenakis, so the performance wasn't really on my radar.

--Bruce

petrarch

#127
It is always good to watch these works being performed. Courtesy of another thread in this forum, here's Synaphai:

http://www.youtube.com/v/9pBMxp8EJFA

http://www.youtube.com/v/L6YpYKPcEBQ


//p
The music collection.
The hi-fi system: Esoteric X-03SE -> Pathos Logos -> Analysis Audio Amphitryon.
A view of the whole

snyprrr

#128
Choral Works (Hyperion)

Remember when this came out, and it was like, wooo, a major label doing Xenakis! :o But then, I was not fully prepared to enjoy it. I just bought it again (dutiful slave that I am!), and, I am mightily impressed.

Except for a Nuits that's just too fast (it's just too fast, y'all; the Arion version is bible IMHO), the rest of the album mines about 85% of Xenakis's choral works. As I remembered, these pieces were is Xenakis's 'Greek' style, and, at the time, I just wasn't having it; but, now, having the scales lifted from mine ears. I am prepared to liberally throw the word 'nasterpiece' around.

Knephas (1990) still sounds like a giant golden rug to me. I was kinda iffy about this piece, but, at least now I can enjoy listening to it. There doesn't seem to be much variety, which is what gives this piece the giant-golden-rug feel, but, sonically, I enjoy the sensation of the voices, as 'panels', dropping through time. Perhaps someone else has better poetics! ::)

Medea (1967), the longest piece, includes ensemble. This comes from the '60s, so, it's very primal/ancient, and I'm glad to be reaquainted. This definitely fits in with the other great works from the late '60s. I think it is the,... oh, what is it?,.... contra-bassoon, or bass trombone, or whatever the low instrument is (don't have the cd handy),... Xenakis loves to use the lowest register, and the effect (like in Akrata) is droolingly delicious.

A Colone (1977), with a very big sounding trio, is the first place, I think, where I hear Xenakis's use of modal melodies (always sounding like ancient fanfares with fifths), the kind which show up later in works such as Tetora. A perfect little piece @5mins. The same goes for the a cappella Serment (1981), which is much more in the vein of Nuits than I had remembered.

Again, Nuits is just too fast here, at @9mins (whereas the Arion version seems just right at 10mins). The evocative middle section loses some of it's mystery, I think. I simply will only ever care about the Arion disc. Had this version match that, this disc would have been even greater, but, never mind: as it stands, this is without a doubt one of the all-time classic Xenakis discs, which, at the time, did more to promote his music than anything up until that point, I believe.

Great disc! 8)


snyprrr

Quote from: snyprrr on May 09, 2010, 07:21:49 PM
ahhh, thank you,...I thought I'd just looked it up and couldn't find it,...maybe the extra "o", haha,...

anyhow, thanks for unearthing my old demo tape whilst on LSD! oy,...certainly, this doesn't take Bohor-ian patience to sit through, but it certainly didn't shoot up into my top3 X-tracks, haha. Honestly, the thing's got me bewildered. If you told me that it sucked, I'd be tempted to agree with you. If you told me it was a masterpiece,...mmm,...I'd have to l;isten to it again, haha!

I couldn't even form an opinion of this music, it was so,...so,...ugly,...and it definitely sounds electronic most of the time,...ugh, am I going to be listening to this non stop for months now?? ???

I definitely lump it in the Hibiki-Hana-Ma category, as far as how it hits my ears. Some musical interest, but mostly swirling, noisy tones and clusters.

I think there is a specified second player, to do the manuals? I believe I'm hearing the organ change sound as it's being played.

Honestly, I feel dirty,...feral, after listening to that. Some Xenakis, mostly the electronic stuff, seems so dirty to me, so viral and angry. I'm not sure what X's point was hear,... maybe simply to make the organ sound electronic.. I'm just shaking my head,...

oh, and you ask me, What were you expecting? Well, I guess I was the whole thing to sound like the last minute. So, technically, the piece is 1000 better than I had imagined. However, it's cumulative effect is the same. It sounds very much like improv to me (though, of course, there would have to be coordination between the two players).

ugh, I was so stoked when I saw your link, and I got all comfy,...and now I just feel,...wrong!! :-\ Wow, sometimes I resent Xenakis for making me feel this way, haha. I remember the first time I heard Bohor. It was at the Peabody library, and I had to listen remote, so that I was not near the cd, and the piece just went on,..on and on,...and on.



Anyhow,...whew, thanks agin. I'm sure I'll be wearing that link out.

Still shaking my head. I just want to say, Awful music, awful!! But,..I know I'm not allowed to do that, because, otherwise, God will turn it into my favorite piece, haha! :P ;D

ok, so, of course I plunk'd down the $27 :o for the cd, which I broke in on the way over here, in the rain. Well, the car stereo (and the storm) certainly left a greater impression than listening to the YouTube computer speakers. Wow!, this is some speaker damaging stuff!

The recording actually does come from 1980, so, I guess this really is the long lost, hidden recording that no one has ever made mention of. The recording itself is much more spectacular than the YouTube speakers let on. I couldn't tell if I was having car trouble, or if that was that Notre Dame sub bass! ;D

If anyone wasn't too impressed with the YouTube, then you'll really just have to get the cd. It leaves a totally different impression, though it's the same performance. And, the rest of the cd (pieces by Chaynes and Chapelet) is equally spectacular sounding. Great, post-Messiaen organ!

greg

So... you are possibly starting to like it?  ;)

snyprrr

Xenakis: Idmen, Pleiades (Erato; 1992):



Yea, this is the one that cost me $55! :o Idmen A/B(1985) are two of Xenakis's rarest works, and yet I certainly assumed I knew what this double piece for choir and six percussionists would sound like. This particularly rare Erato disc also includes one of the five recordings we now have of Pleiades, here played by an all female group taking the name of the work.

As far as pieces for percussion and choir by Xenakis go, this thing probably could have gone two ways, but, as I in anticipation heard the first measures, I knew right away that this was going to be a special Xenakis experience. The voices are orchestrally instrumental throughout, and are put through the most rigorously beautiful treatment, hitting all the Xenakis signposts that were prevalent in the mid '80s.

The three 'A' piece have voices dominating, the three 'B' pieces, the percs; however, within each piece there are two distinct pieces, so, there is a huge amount of variety for such a restricted instrumentation. When the voices are dominating, the percs usually play in X's xylo-mellow-marimba mode, and in the other three, the percs blissfully regale us with classic Pleiadean excess.

The choral writing brings together so much, that the piece literally takes on life as a strange, otherworldly symphony for space organ and percussion. The piece 'A-2' is the most beautiful realization of X's famous pelog scale (heard at the beginning of Jonchaies). It aaalmost sounds like Arvo Part, haha! :o The Pacific musical mode, with the gamelan like quality of six percs, makes this X's most tropical score so far. This really is so much more than I had ever given X credit for bringing forth. Here is a place where he totally blew away my bigotry. And, at 30mins, it appears to be one of X's most substantial works. Honestly, this piece was worth the money. I'm glad it was this piece.



I have the two Percs-de-Strasbourg versions (HM and Denon), of which, IMHO (haha), the HM recording sucks, and the Denon recording is great.

I dare you. I double dare you. :-*

So, the six females, and the Erato recording, conspire to bring us a very beautifully,...mmmm,...I'm going to say "femenine" (am I spelling that right?). The ladies play Pleaides as well as P-o-Str, but you can almost just feel their delicacy, though, I not saying they play anything less the Xenakis standard.

The recording, too, unlike the Denon, is more distant, with the players obviously closer and farther away, giving, in Peaux, a true feeling of the spacial quality of the piece. The Denon recording is just really cool and in your face; this one feels more like one of those Nimbus discs. You can really feel the rebounds here.

The only real letdown is the sound of the group's sixxens, the instrument specifically designed for this piece. The P-o-Str's instruments sound like tubular bells on their Denon recording, but sound like crap on the HM. Here too, the instruments start off sounding a little like trash cans, and the distance of the recording adds to the strange effect. It's not really really bad like the HM, but if you're used to the Denon, it's a letdown.

WEll, while we're at it, let's bring the Kroumata/BIS and RFBF/Mode versions into the picture. The Kroumata I have no idea about, though, of course, BIS has an excellent sonic reputation. The Mode was not preferred to the P-o-Str (I don't know which version, though, it weould have to be the Denon ;D) in an Amazon review, and I think the sound of the sixxen had something to do with it. Either way, I'm here to say that the Denon is the bible performance, and that this Erato version singularly stands out as a beautifully spacial recording, with a  crystalline and delicatly powerful performance by the all girl band, woo woo! :-*

This cd is a great find, one of the most beautiful Xenakis discs ever. Idmen is an elusive masterpiece, wholly unique and beautiful and powerfully gentle, a great summing up of his strengths in the midst of his most creative phase (really unlike that Hyperion choral disc). The music, performances, and recordings all conspire together for probably the most ear tickling and joyful Xenakis disc ever. Essential! 8)


UB

R3 is broadcasting a performance of Pleiades next Saturday on Hear and Now. If you miss the broadcast on Saturday it will be available on demand for a week.
I am not in the entertainment business. Harrison Birtwistle 2010

bhodges

Here is a good write-up of the Xenakis festivities in Central Park yesterday, by a friend who went out in one of the rowboats on the lake, to hear Persephassa.  There was also a review in The New York Times today.  Mentally compiling the various reports, it sounds like a success, even if sonically not ideal. 

--Bruce

bhodges

And here are some photos of the Xenakis on the lake, thanks to Eardrum NYC.  I'm a bit bummed that I wasn't able to go.  :(

--Bruce

snyprrr

Quote from: bhodges on June 23, 2010, 12:31:28 PM
Here is a good write-up of the Xenakis festivities in Central Park yesterday, by a friend who went out in one of the rowboats on the lake, to hear Persephassa.  There was also a review in The New York Times today.  Mentally compiling the various reports, it sounds like a success, even if sonically not ideal. 

--Bruce

I'd heard about that. How bout some relevancy, huh?

And so, it just happened to coincide with the arrival of this awesome 2-cd Philips box of Les Percussions de Strasbourg, which, when I saw it on Amazon.fr, I just kneeew it had the original version of Persephassa on it, and,....I was right!

Like most of you, I've had the Mode version (the Varese/Xenakis cd) forever. The piece never made much of an impression on me, but, as I ran out of new Xenakis to sate my thirst, eventually I had to go back and reaquaint myself.

As it stands now, we have four versions of this monster:

Philips '71,
Mode 1 (Varese/Xenakis disc; Carnegie Mellon percussionists),
Demoe/Stradivarius, and
Mode 2 (Red Fish Blue Fish).

The reviews for the Schick set obviously say that it's an improvement on the Varese/Xenakis disc. I heard the snippet, and, surely, the recording sounds like it should. This I'd really like to hear. The Demoe snippet seemed to reveal a dinky acoustic. The Mellon version, though competitive, seems distantly recorded. The closest member already seems far away, so, when we hear the farthest member, it really IS far away!

So, that brings us to this original 1971 recording, with the original lineup of the PoS. Let me just say that within twenty seconds you will be blown away! Truly, simply on detail along, this recording blows the Mellon. It simply won't do to tell you. The sonic experience truly makes this piece. I compared with the Mellon for a while, but then the Mellon just became obsolete. I'm sure I might listen to it once more, but then, poof! The 1971 is the shizzle!

I just couldn't believe this rich recording, and this primal interpretation. Just like most all original Xenakis recordings, there is a feral quality of discovery in the sound itself, so "2001:A Space Odyssey", so brutal and primal. This recording would be played right after the RZ Editions Terretekhtorh and Nomos Gamma.

I feel like a broken record, but lately I've just been hearing some awesome new Xenakis. Everything I hear is an instant masterpiece! Though this piece has been around, if you have the Mode/Mellon version, you have no idea what you're missing. I imagine it's more like the hazy sonics that the people in the canoes might have heard. The Philips is just a monster by comparison.



Wow, I have now pretty well reached the end of available Xenakis. What shall I do?? Ack!! I think I've almost spent $200 on less than a hour's worth of Xenakis in the last couple of months! May the madness continue, haha!! NOT!!! :-*

snyprrr

Around 1997, I was sitting in a Baltimore church waiting for a Modern Music performance to begin, and, as I scrolled down, I saw Xenakis,...and my heart leapt,...and then I saw it was a piece for percussion and I went flat. Back then, I just couldn't have any respect for "classical" percussion, and, as I don't remember, the performance didn't convert me. Hey, it's a piece for tom-toms and woodblocks,...whaddaya want? ::)

Then I got the first Mode disc of Ensemble Pieces, which has probably the most flubbety flub version of any drum piece I've ever heard. At some point, percussionist Robert McEwen's drumsticks seem to be getting more play than the real instruments. For me, the merest hint of a drumstick flub will send me to the rewind. I'm sorry, but I must have absolute perfection from my percussionists.

Then I got Johan Faber by default on a BVHAAST disc. I was listening to it again recently, in an effort to make friends with the piece, and, I was generally happy with his performance. I hear two suspicious places, but,nothing bad really stood out. OR so I thought....

I recently got Steven Schick's second-out-of-three-recordings, the Neuma disc, Drumming in the Dark, which I chose mostly for the discmates (Saariaho, Ferneyhough, Reynolds), but also for Schick's reputation. His first disc, Born to be Wild (Newport) doesn't seem to be available, and the new Mode is just not my cup of packaging (why why why couldn't they have made a two release survey, so we could have had a little more control?).

As most everybody starts the rhythmic section (I can't remember if it's A, or B) off the same, it's not until the very first double-time run that we start to hear differences, and, with Schick, WOW!, he just simply bloooooows the others away. And the real test is the first introduction of the woodblocks, which Schick makes everyone sound like, well, ...crap. Literally. I personally would still like a little more absolute control, but Schick is very very good here. He is the only one so far that I've heard who keeps the mathematics of the piece always upfront. The "atoms colliding and riqocheting (sic)" really comes through with Schick. As the piece progresses, and the integration of the toms and the woodblocks occurs, Schick's virtuosity makes mincemeat of the other competitors. Direct comparisons are deadly humorous (but not for the other players!!).

There is a section, somewhere in A/B, where a rolling on the toms is produced. Just hearing the difference between Faber and Schick here is amazing, but, when I went on Amazon to research further, I was stunned by the snippet of Markus Leosson's (?) performance on Caprice. The snippet just happened to be this tom roll, and Leosson even outdoes Schick here. So, one must wonder about Leosson then (someone earlier asked about him during the Psappha discussion). I'm not too crazy about the discmates, but, we'll see.

Since I was so taken by Peter Sadlo's version of P{sappha, I was dismayed to see his Koch recording unavailable in the US, and astronomical elsewhere. There does seem to be some kind of Koch re-issue, reusing the title, "Percussion in Concert" (from an earlier cd), but it appears to only have two versions of "B" ??? ??? ??? I don't understand this. Can anyone verify? There is also a DG/Sadlo disc (something "Hors***" "Horsaal", or something) that might have a new version, but this too seems to only have "B". Again, I just can't seem to get a verifiable track listing. Sadlo is a monster, and I'd love to hear his Rebonds.

Now, there's this new cd called "Gravity", which also has pieces by Globokar and Pintscher and others, that has been getting great reviews. The snippet I heard was tantalizing. I forgot the player's name.

Also, there is a new BIS disc, called "Open", which I have heard nothing.

That leaves Pedro Cameiro's all Xenakis recital, which, though I haven't heard it, has a reputation for being special (as a whole record, that is). His video performance, though, seems a bit human to me (Latin blood?), so, I can't really hear the ultra-mathematics, but the he does have an impressive human swing.



Also, on YouTube there are many performances, including one by Schick (I think). There is one, that starts off so beautifully (many thought this the bible performance on YT), and, I was impressed, but, as soon as he hits the first woodblock run, he takes it soooooooooo slow as to destroy all momentum.



Currently, I find Rebonds a masterpiece (as revealed to me by Schick). The homogeny between the toms and woodblocks makes this such a monochromatic, "brown" piece, with only the actual hitting of notes producing any effect. The smooth, or slippery, act of going imperceptabely (sic) from one instrument to the next produces a constant 1/8 note dribbling along like liquid wood. If played absolutely perfectly, I can't imagine the effect.

Though no performance I know of strays too far from the 11-13min range, it seems the Xenakis catalog calls for a playing time of 8mins :o :P, Yum yum, haha. Yea, I just don't see that happening anytime soon, haha. Maybe they'll make an album of computer realizations of his percussion pieces, like they did for his keyboard stuff? Interesting.

So, what do you think of Rebonds, the most ubiquitous  classical percussion piece of all time?

greg

Is this the Leoson Cd you are talking about?

snyprrr

Quote from: Greg on July 09, 2010, 08:50:23 PM
Is this the Leoson Cd you are talking about?


That's the one with Psappha, isn't it? I think the other one, with Rebonds, is simply called "Percussion". As I recall, it has a bluish background, with MK in silhouette, getting ready to throw down on some kettle drums. I've never seen this cover before.

snyprrr

Quote from: snyprrr on July 09, 2010, 07:39:37 PM
Around 1997, I was sitting in a Baltimore church waiting for a Modern Music performance to begin, and, as I scrolled down, I saw Xenakis,...and my heart leapt,...and then I saw it was a piece for percussion and I went flat. Back then, I just couldn't have any respect for "classical" percussion, and, as I don't remember, the performance didn't convert me. Hey, it's a piece for tom-toms and woodblocks,...whaddaya want? ::)

Then I got the first Mode disc of Ensemble Pieces, which has probably the most flubbety flub version of any drum piece I've ever heard. At some point, percussionist Robert McEwen's drumsticks seem to be getting more play than the real instruments. For me, the merest hint of a drumstick flub will send me to the rewind. I'm sorry, but I must have absolute perfection from my percussionists.

Then I got Johan Faber by default on a BVHAAST disc. I was listening to it again recently, in an effort to make friends with the piece, and, I was generally happy with his performance. I hear two suspicious places, but,nothing bad really stood out. OR so I thought....

I recently got Steven Schick's second-out-of-three-recordings, the Neuma disc, Drumming in the Dark, which I chose mostly for the discmates (Saariaho, Ferneyhough, Reynolds), but also for Schick's reputation. His first disc, Born to be Wild (Newport) doesn't seem to be available, and the new Mode is just not my cup of packaging (why why why couldn't they have made a two release survey, so we could have had a little more control?).

As most everybody starts the rhythmic section (I can't remember if it's A, or B) off the same, it's not until the very first double-time run that we start to hear differences, and, with Schick, WOW!, he just simply bloooooows the others away. And the real test is the first introduction of the woodblocks, which Schick makes everyone sound like, well, ...crap. Literally. I personally would still like a little more absolute control, but Schick is very very good here. He is the only one so far that I've heard who keeps the mathematics of the piece always upfront. The "atoms colliding and riqocheting (sic)" really comes through with Schick. As the piece progresses, and the integration of the toms and the woodblocks occurs, Schick's virtuosity makes mincemeat of the other competitors. Direct comparisons are deadly humorous (but not for the other players!!).

There is a section, somewhere in A/B, where a rolling on the toms is produced. Just hearing the difference between Faber and Schick here is amazing, but, when I went on Amazon to research further, I was stunned by the snippet of Markus Leosson's (?) performance on Caprice. The snippet just happened to be this tom roll, and Leosson even outdoes Schick here. So, one must wonder about Leosson then (someone earlier asked about him during the Psappha discussion). I'm not too crazy about the discmates, but, we'll see.

Since I was so taken by Peter Sadlo's version of P{sappha, I was dismayed to see his Koch recording unavailable in the US, and astronomical elsewhere. There does seem to be some kind of Koch re-issue, reusing the title, "Percussion in Concert" (from an earlier cd), but it appears to only have two versions of "B" ??? ??? ??? I don't understand this. Can anyone verify? There is also a DG/Sadlo disc (something "Hors***" "Horsaal", or something) that might have a new version, but this too seems to only have "B". Again, I just can't seem to get a verifiable track listing. Sadlo is a monster, and I'd love to hear his Rebonds.

Now, there's this new cd called "Gravity", which also has pieces by Globokar and Pintscher and others, that has been getting great reviews. The snippet I heard was tantalizing. I forgot the player's name.

Also, there is a new BIS disc, called "Open", which I have heard nothing.

That leaves Pedro Cameiro's all Xenakis recital, which, though I haven't heard it, has a reputation for being special (as a whole record, that is). His video performance, though, seems a bit human to me (Latin blood?), so, I can't really hear the ultra-mathematics, but the he does have an impressive human swing.



Also, on YouTube there are many performances, including one by Schick (I think). There is one, that starts off so beautifully (many thought this the bible performance on YT), and, I was impressed, but, as soon as he hits the first woodblock run, he takes it soooooooooo slow as to destroy all momentum.



Currently, I find Rebonds a masterpiece (as revealed to me by Schick). The homogeny between the toms and woodblocks makes this such a monochromatic, "brown" piece, with only the actual hitting of notes producing any effect. The smooth, or slippery, act of going imperceptabely (sic) from one instrument to the next produces a constant 1/8 note dribbling along like liquid wood. If played absolutely perfectly, I can't imagine the effect.

Though no performance I know of strays too far from the 11-13min range, it seems the Xenakis catalog calls for a playing time of 8mins :o :P, Yum yum, haha. Yea, I just don't see that happening anytime soon, haha. Maybe they'll make an album of computer realizations of his percussion pieces, like they did for his keyboard stuff? Interesting.

So, what do you think of Rebonds, the most ubiquitous  classical percussion piece of all time?

I just got the Markus Leoson "Percussion" cd with Rebonds, and I gotta say it's quite a stunning performance. He goes toe to toe with Schick ("Drumming in the Dark"), but he has slightly more interesting instruments (still tom-toms), and his woodblock section is more dynamic than Schick. Pretty much, they totally trade off on interesting touches, complementing each other.

The main schocker, though, was Leoson's choice of instruments in the slower sounding "A" (the one that does NOT start off with the ubiquitous rhythmic pattern). All other recordings I've heard play the tom-toms "in order", meaning, from lowest to highest, but Leoson puts the lynch pin tom out of "order", so that every time you are expecting a high hit, you get a low one. When the cyclopaeic (?) maelstrom begins, we are always expecting the gravity to be to a certain tom, and Leoson has masterfully played with these expectations.

PURE GENIUS
Also, this low drum is so huge it has a tonal hum to it, lending this percussion piece an otherwise unheard of dimension, that one one else has hit on (that I know of).

The woodblocks also have a nicer, wetter sound than Schick's more close up portrait. Schick's sound more like bamboo, whereas Leoson's sound like real clip-clops.

However, after comparing for a while, one is truly struck by both performers' overt technical virtuosity. Perhaps Leoson is a bit more feeling,but when either one of them gets going, the sheer precision of all these thousands of notes is a visceral thrill! Right at the very end of Leoson's big finish, there is a small section where he mimics an echo chamber like no other.

The rest of Leoson's recital includes Tanaka (marimba), Donatoni (Omar; vibraphone), Fukushi, B. Tommy Andersson (concerto), and Milhaud (Concerto for Marimba and Vibraphone). Well, there's no real accounting for what's on a percussion cd, I guess, haha. The Milhaud is soooooo charming you can't help but smile.

I will say that I certainly wouldn't mind hearing an even better performance of Rebonds, but, I think the whole point of the piece is to have at least one "straining" note, just to let you know it's a person. Both Leoson and Schick have their human milliseconds, but, when compared with someone like McEwen on Mode (I'm sorry I keep raggin on ya!), everything becomes all too clear.

POW :o!! Good stuff! ;) 8)