Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)

[snyprrr]

A total knockout piano record!

Check out "Evryali" on YouTube. There is one performance in particular, by someone-Mark-Roberts, or something, but he has two different versions, and the earlier one is my vote for best Evryali ever, bar none (sorry Aki!). He's the only one who can make jazz of this piece. I think it's spectacular!

Also, this Yuji version, I remember, but it had been getting sloppy reviews (compared to everyone else), but I just listened to that, and MY!, even though he is very,...mmm,...trying to hit all the notes, the crisp recording captures all the notes better than others. It's a BIG performance (as opposed to the more managed ones) and sounds like a symphony. I might have to pick it up again.

The other Japanese lady who has a performance (her's is also on YouTube) plays the piece so fast as to lose all pleasure. Sure, she seems to hit the notes, but the piece is more than that. She loses all sense of the jazzy play that the other performer imbues in his.

Wow, this piece is something. I can't stop listening to it. Oh wait, there's even a VIDEO of someone playing it, and I must admit, it looks a lot easier when I'm watching this guy's hands. This performance, too, is a little TOO wild.

There is also a performance by Rolf Hind that's standard, straight up Evryali, very good.

Aki (with Hind) and the John-Mark? guy (earlier performance) are currently my top picks for this monster piece.






btw- no one can figure out how to contact Warner Classics? I'd love for us to be able to influence a recording like this.

[just Jeff]

Also, this Yuji version, I remember, but it had been getting sloppy reviews (compared to everyone else), but I just listened to that, and MY!, even though he is very,...mmm,...trying to hit all the notes, the crisp recording captures all the notes better than others. It's a BIG performance (as opposed to the more managed ones) and sounds like a symphony. I might have to pick it up again.

btw- no one can figure out how to contact Warner Classics? I'd love for us to be able to influence a recording like this.

Who is Aki Takahashi, any relation, I notice mention in the Third Ear guide under this composer a mention?

But yeah, Denon had a point to prove, and these digital records (before CDs came along) were some thunderous sounding recordings for better of worse.  I just sold my copy on ebay for $52, but not before capturing to my hard drive for future revists.  I did my own reissue so to speak.  Warner's stock is way down, so sad, so sad.

[greg]

Who is Aki Takahashi, any relation, I notice mention in the Third Ear guide under this composer a mention?

I was confused for a while, too!
Just checked here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABji_Takahashi

and it says Aki is his sister. Phew... okay, it all makes sense now.

[greg]

There isn't a recording of Nyuuyou with real kotos, is there? The only recording I have (and know of that actually exists) substitutes guitars for the kotos.

[snyprrr]

There isn't a recording of Nyuuyou with real kotos, is there? The only recording I have (and know of that actually exists) substitutes guitars for the kotos.

No, but that is quite a piece! I was trying to figure the opening out just yesterday!, but, with my indeterminate sense of pitch,...oh, haha!! I love how that one guitar in the beginning does that koto smack,... sooo hard! Whack!

I just finally heard it on YouTube recently, and was pleasantly surprised.

Greg, what do you think a Xenakis solo guitar piece would have sounded like? I could have seen him writing 2-3 really Great, diverse pieces, not to mention 2-4 guitars.



That mid-80s chunk of Xenakis that still need to be better revisited are the years '84-'85, in which we still have at least one hitherto unheard of morsel, Alax, for 3 orchestral groups.



I am in such a Xenakis frenzy lately, obsessively listening to pieces over and over. Add to this the fact that the discography has atrophied since the Timpani series ended (arrgh, leaving just a few, tantalizing pieces left unheard), and you have the makings of a frothing snyprrr!

Here's what I see for the Mode series:

1) another Schick/Red Fish Blue Fish set including O-Mega, Zythos, Idmen, and possibly Plekto. and, maybe Khal-Perr.

2) a disc of "String Solos, Duos, & Trios"

3) I see a disc called XBrass (can you see it on the Mode cover?) which would theoretically cull any and all other missing Xenakis pieces (including the unrecorded Linea-Agon), along with Keren,... though Eonta and such are already on other Modes.

I'm having difficulty seeing how Mode is going to wrap up this Xenakis cycle. As I see it, they've painted themselves into a corner, leaving only utterly diverse pieces left. Perhaps they will continue with the "Ensemble Music"  way that they started the series out with?

[greg]

No, but that is quite a piece! I was trying to figure the opening out just yesterday!, but, with my indeterminate sense of pitch,...oh, haha!! I love how that one guitar in the beginning does that koto smack,... sooo hard! Whack!

I just finally heard it on YouTube recently, and was pleasantly surprised.

I just listened to it again today. I haven't listened in a couple of years, because I don't remember being pleased with it on first hearing. This time, though, I was stunned- very nice piece.

Greg, what do you think a Xenakis solo guitar piece would have sounded like? I could have seen him writing 2-3 really Great, diverse pieces, not to mention 2-4 guitars.

Hmm.... depends on when he would have written it. I could imagine a guitar piece using Greek scales during one section and very violent (but steady) strumming of dischords if it would have been a later work.

Here's what I see for the Mode series:

1) another Schick/Red Fish Blue Fish set including O-Mega, Zythos, Idmen, and possibly Plekto. and, maybe Khal-Perr.

2) a disc of "String Solos, Duos, & Trios"

3) I see a disc called XBrass (can you see it on the Mode cover?) which would theoretically cull any and all other missing Xenakis pieces (including the unrecorded Linea-Agon), along with Keren,... though Eonta and such are already on other Modes.

I'm having difficulty seeing how Mode is going to wrap up this Xenakis cycle. As I see it, they've painted themselves into a corner, leaving only utterly diverse pieces left. Perhaps they will continue with the "Ensemble Music"  way that they started the series out with?

That sounds good. It would nice (and much easier) if they just released all of his unrecorded works into one CD, though.  (of course, realistically, that won't be happening...)

[snyprrr]

I could imagine a guitar piece using Greek scales during one section and very violent (but steady) strumming of dischords if it would have been a later work.

I'm also thinking about those asynchronous scales going up and down at the same time a la the end of the solo cello and bass pieces. I've been trying to figure it out, but it's a brain twister. It might just be easier writing it,... I can "hear" how it would work.

I've been playing that Pelog scale,... it's just an E Major scale without the c# and f#. But it sounds so much like Xenakis,... I want to come up with my own scale,...Waaaaah!!!!

[greg]

Another interesting idea I've came up with from messing around on guitar was using a scale consisting of ascending perfect fifths, but with an extra note in the middle. (In this case, the extra note being a minor third).

Example: A C D F G Bb C Eb F Ab Bb Db

I think Xenakis might have used an asynchronous scale like this before.

[snyprrr]

Another interesting idea I've came up with from messing around on guitar was using a scale consisting of ascending perfect fifths, but with an extra note in the middle. (In this case, the extra note being a minor third).

Example: A C D F G Bb C Eb F Ab Bb Db

I think Xenakis might have used an asynchronous scale like this before.

Wow, it's ALMOST normal,... but,... yea, that's pretty cool! You figured out what I've been looking for, haha! I'm still scratching my head over pitch sieves.

Do you have Epicycles? He uses the "American Indian" sound here,... something I soooo identify with "wompum" music from westerns, that when he uses it for HIS context, it really makes my head spin. How DARE he use A-C-D-F-G, haha!

[snyprrr]

What part of Xenakis could be considered "spectral"? I mean, maybe it's not fair using that particular word,... however, X obviously knew the inner workings of a tone. Maybe I'm just fishing for a concept here.

[just Jeff]

I just listened to this the other night.  Very interesting composition with Xenakis' input, but the early digital recording, in my opinion, did not result in a definative (sound quality)  version of the work.

[petrarch]

I just listened to this the other night.  Very interesting composition with Xenakis' input, but the early digital recording, in my opinion, did not result in a definative (sound quality)  version of the work.

Those pieces were ultimately rerecorded and released on the Chamber Music 1955-1990 double CD, which is a fine recording of a superb collection of music for strings and piano:

http://www.amazon.com/Iannis-Xenakis-Chamber-Music-1955-1990/dp/B000003VQA

[DavidW]

Well my first cd arrived earlier this week, which contain Synaphai; Aroura; Antikhthon and each of these pieces just blow me away.  I plan on listening a few more times this week, but I'm really impressed by how expressive Xenakis sounds while being just completely different from everything I've heard before.

[CRCulver]

If you're new to Xenakis, perhaps the best place to start is with his chamber and instrumental works, which are less dense and demanding than his larger-scale pieces.

That is a curious recommendation, when so many stories of people seeing the light of contemporary music through Xenakis speak of how they were impressed by "Jonchaies" or "Metastasis", while his chamber works get considerably less love.

[just Jeff]

Well my first cd arrived earlier this week, which contain Synaphai; Aroura; Antikhthon and each of these pieces just blow me away.  I plan on listening a few more times this week, but I'm really impressed by how expressive Xenakis sounds while being just completely different from everything I've heard before.

Is that the Elgar Howarth, New Philharmonia Orchestra recording?  If so, I like mid-70s recordings for sound quality, and always start with those analog, rather thahn later digital recordings.  I posted original LP cover of that set, page 8 or this thread.

[DavidW]

Is that the Elgar Howarth, New Philharmonia Orchestra recording?  If so, I like mid-70s recordings for sound quality, and always start with those analog, rather thahn later digital recordings.  I posted original LP cover of that set, page 8 or this thread.

Yup that's it.   I'll go look at your pic now.

[bhodges]

Well my first cd arrived earlier this week, which contain Synaphai; Aroura; Antikhthon and each of these pieces just blow me away.  I plan on listening a few more times this week, but I'm really impressed by how expressive Xenakis sounds while being just completely different from everything I've heard before.

It's just great stuff, isn't it!  He really is like no one else.

--Bruce

[snyprrr]

Well my first cd arrived earlier this week, which contain Synaphai; Aroura; Antikhthon and each of these pieces just blow me away.  I plan on listening a few more times this week, but I'm really impressed by how expressive Xenakis sounds while being just completely different from everything I've heard before.

I just got that the other day too. I have the other recordings, but I heard the timings were differen ty here. I'm not absolutely crazy about the sound quality, though, ultimately, it is very good.

Synaphai definitely gets a run through here. On the Timpani recording, it cracks 16mins, but Howarth/Madge dispatch it in under 12mins. Though I can't heart it as faster, it certainly is more volitile. Hiroaki Ooi is infinitely more delicate in the solo part, but Madge blasts the piece apart! Howarth also gets some nice fruit from his brass and woodwinds. It's very nice to have two so very different recordings to compare.

Aroura and Antikhthon for a piece and should be listened to as such, I think. Aroura is also on Mode, and Antikhthon is on the Timpani survey; however, they are here together, and that is how I think they work. Antikhthon is 2mins longer than the Timpani, but this is no thing. Howarth is very fierce here, but so is Tamayo, and Timpani's recording offers a larger sound picture. But, with such unbelievable music, each recording is of course going to have felicities, and right now I wouldn't want to be without either.

I hadn't payed that much attention to Antikhthon when the Timpani series came out, but as I've been obsessively comparing the two versions, I've come to see the piece as quite the explosion of ideas. It is more advanced than the two large orchestral pieces that came before it, and yet it doesn't sound so much like later '70s Xenakis (Jonchaies, with its Pelog scale). It's pretty much slash and burn all the way through.

I will give Howarth the brass nod for coaxing the best out of his forces. The brass are a bit out front, but that's ok: the Timpani recording is the one to go to for studio perfection. The Howath is special for having that newly minted feel...



I could go on, but GET THIS CD!! I got it for $6.

[snyprrr]

I think that set a top-shelf rec.

PLEIADES
Like Varèse, Xenakis was particularly drawn to the sonic possibilities of percussion. Of several works for percussion ensemble, Pleiades, a strikingly beautiful quartet of pieces which evokes the richness of Balinese gamelan, is the most exciting and aurally seductive. Written in 1978, it is divided into four sections, which group the percussion timbres by family - keyboards, metallophones, skins. The Claviers section is particularly rich, utilizing Indonesian scales and the bright timbres of vibraphone, xylophone and marimba to produce a fascinating ethno-minimalist concoction.



This disc from Harmonia Mundi features the ensemble for which Pleiades was written, and was recorded in the presence of the composer (who provides a sleevenote analysis of the piece), so it's not surprising that the performances are first-rate.

I have to kvetch over that recording. It is extremely dry. The same group re-recorded it on Denon (W/Ishii), and the sound is beautiful, especially in the Sixxen section. This is the only recording (BIS is on its way!) so far that has a good Sixxen (the Erato suffers slightly too). I heard the Mode Sixxen was so-so, so,... this Denon cd IS the one to get for Pleiades.

Trust me!

[snyprrr]

"The Expression of Emotion in A Remorseless World"



Xenakis is known for his staight ahead scientific approach to organizing musical events, that seem to preclude the existence of things like tunes. Most all of his first three periods (1955-1973) contain nothing that could be called hummable, unless you count the vocal works, but that's not what I'm going for. His open point was to express the music of reality, in which an evocation of water does not yield hummable bits as it does in Liszt and Debussy. The point is, there is no real moment of repose in Xenakis music, no reflection, no humanity.

However, in the late '60s, I believe Xenakis the humanitarian began to integrate the reality of humanity into his works, and in very simple ways. I think the first work that heralds the fully mature Xenakis is the vocal work Nuits. As the piece progresses in the usual, blunt, acrid, and/or brutal way,... the straighforward Xenakis way, there is a moment of repose in the middle, probably the Golden Section, where the voices get quiet, and drone, with bleeps and chirps,... the first truly evocative Xenakis moment, in my opinion. This moment is mirrored about ten years later in the work Akanthos, for soprano and ensemble, which has a similar, though even more haunting moment.

Then, in the string piece Aroura (1971), there is a moment when the basses hit a ground note, and there is a hanging on the minor second, the "crying" interval, throughout the registers. This same "emotion" is echoed in Antikhthon, from the same year. It's not as pronounced, but you will hear it early on. It is the sound of the earth heaving in that sad, descending minor second way.



His exclusive adoption of the Pelog Scale, and its wistful South Pacific/noble savage character, signaled the total integration of melodic appeal into his music. It permeates most of the works between 1977-86, reaching its most profound renditions in the vocal work Idmen, and the ensemble piece La Isle d'Goree, probably the perfect Xenakis work, combining all his concerns, married to an uber-humanist programme.

In later works, this scale seems to be reduced to its tones, meaningless, like wind chimes blowing randomly. In later work, the melancoly is suffused into the block-like rhetoric of the pieces themselves. One feature of late Xenakis that stands out is the chorale, which was first featured in the organ work Gmeeorgh in the '70s. The Lutoslawski memorial is a perfect example of this: slowing, grinding, chorale-like movement, with the melodic appeal of church bells from several different churches going off at once.

Many of his late pieces contain at least one prominent fifth or fourth, and many pieces are built on the modal, ancient sounding music that sounds neither minor nor major. All this music seems to be suffused with sad Gotterdammerung-like epilog to a Tragedy of the Gods feeling, where some are frozen in poses of torture, etc,...whilst the camera pans slowly across the apocalyptic fields,...giant blocks,...



The trombone concerto Troorkh has a most plaintive solo part, which enters seeming to make the sign of the cross. There is something of messages written across the night sky in this piece.



well, i'm running out of steam here,...nighteynight,...haha, the cat's snorning!,...