Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)

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

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ibanezmonster

How many versions of Psappha do we really need?  ::)

snyprrr

Quote from: Greg on December 25, 2011, 01:54:29 PM
How many versions of Psappha do we really need?  ::)

ALL of them, haha!! ::)

snyprrr

Quote from: snyprrr on July 09, 2010, 07:39:37 PM
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.

Just got a cheap-ish copy of Peter Sadlo's 1999 Koch release 'Xenakis: Rebonds and other Works for Percussion Solo' (w/NA Huber, Carter, Henze, Tanaka, etc.,...), the one I was whining about in the above Post. As I said, I was quite impressed with his Psappha: he plays a bit on the slower side, but is so perfect as to make a compelling case for himself.

Well, I am slightly confused by this, but I belive Rebonds B is the more straighforward piece, with the incessant tap-tap-tapping. So, going on this, Sadlo's Rebonds A (the more amorphous part) is the longest I've hear, clocking in at 8:00 :o. On listening, this slowness only serves to clarify the structure (Sadlo seems more intent on teaching and showing, rather than be selfish and a speed demon). The other part, the more rhythmic one, comes off very well too, with an ending only matched by Leoson.

Sadlo's woodblocks, and his whole setup, is very homogenous, as opposed to some others' more variegated approach. This sameness (which is also heightened by a slightly homogenous recording) works wonders for Sadlo, as he successfully turns his kit into one actual instrument. This is the only version I've heard that brings out some of the more 'arborescenes' aspects of the up/down tom toms.

Sadlo's approach, also, is much like Schick's. Neither reaches the sheer transcendence of Leoson's performance (or his conception), but Sadlo is no doubt a highly intelligent player, and certainly holds his own against the rest. As I said, the Koch sound is nowhere near the crystal clear Teldec sound that he was afforded for Psappha ('Peter Sadlo & Friends: Drum Together'), but it does work for Rebonds, which needs a certain amount of dryness anyway.

This Koch cd actually has quite an array of pieces, and it is interesting for more than the Xenakis. Look for it (EU AMAZONS), but be warned, I got the cheap copy! ;)

snyprrr

I also got a copy of the Mondriaan Quartet's original 1994 Premiere recording of Ergma, a cd that has eluded me for quite some time. This Ergma is a touch more feral than the JACK Quartet on Mode; actually, the JACK's sound is so deep rich and bronze, when you hear the Mondriaan's more gut bucket sound, you really feel the dissonances much more harshly (which, of course, is a good thing!). Great stuff!

(This cd also has Feldman's Three Pieces (1956; which, happily, I don't have (I have Structures)), and, surprises of surprises, Cage's Five3 (trombone & SQ; written for the Mondriaan), which I though was going to simply be another recording of String Quartet in Four Parts.. This is quite a coup since I don't have Five3 on that Arditti/CPO disc anymore.

Anyhow, Ergma is white hot here (nice and ugly!), as opposed to the JACK's more burnished performance.

snyprrr

Quote from: snyprrr on February 08, 2010, 08:23:18 PM
This is madness! ::)Again, I have to get a whole cd of Eonta and Akrata just to get a 3min new piece. MADNESS! >:DWhen? When will Mode release reasonable recitals for this series? NEVER! obviously!

Ok, the 4 SQs, ok, I understand that,... though why they could've added...well, nevermind, that's fine, but practically every other release in their series is a big mixed up mish mash, IMHO. And NOW, Takahashi releases a second volume, seemingly gathering together the most head scratching Xenakis recital EVER, IMO. Ugh ugh ugh :-\ :-X >:D.

Whew, I just gotta vent. I got a big boner when I saw your post, but then went limp.

I thought the first Takahashi disc was a bit odd, adding Palimpsest and all, but why they couldn't have put Paille on that one,... I don't know, honestly I'm not really looking forward to any more of these Mode discs. I personally think they've done a baffling job here documenting Xenakis,... simply adding new recordings of pieces we already have heard, while things like the great orchestral/choral trilogy (Cendrees, Anemoessa, Nekuia) remain undone.

Can I get a witness?

oh, someone has some good news! ;D THAT I would like to see!

And,... more depressing news :'(.

ok, I'm sure I will have to dutifully get the EMI, though, aren't many of those performances on the RZ Edition 2-cd? I'm so jaded now, I'm just not even that excited,...oh, what has become of my Xenakis mania? :'(

And, the MOST DEPRESSING HINT of all is that Timpani has wrapped up their Xenakis series. Why else offer the five? Why not have offered the choral/orchestral trilogy also? :'( :'( :'( Why why why??



ok, here I wallow in my misery. Will I ever be satisfied with a Xenakis release again? Will the choral trilogy go unrecorded (a suspect not)? Will someone record good versions of the stuff that Mode fluffed (Plekto, others...)?

And, WHY??, if they've got two cds of Takahashi now, did they not re-record Plekto with her??

MADNESS, I tell you. Madness.



ok, the only silver lining I see is this. Remember how this series got started on Vandenberg, which released "Xenakis in N.Y.", and "Iannissimo!", and then folded, and then the same group continued with two cds for Mode, which then became that label's Vols 1-2?

Well, it appears that Mode is duplicating Eonta from the Vandenberg disc, so maybe they will also re-record Kai, Kuillenn, and other late Xenakis that, frankly, was horribly recorded.

ok,...now I have a headache. Please, someone soothe my fractured Xenakis nerves. ???

Haha, yes, it was so sad that Timpani wrapped up their 'Cycle'. BUT, I finally got Vol.5 (with Metastaseis), and, so far, it is GRRREAT! Seriously, I will need to get into this performance of Metastaseis: at 7:35, it is the fastest out there (Bornstein is a deathly 9:00!!), and, it does SOMETHING to the middle section that totally changes the sound of the 'soup'. All other recording sound similar here, but Tamayo, God bless him, must have just decided we needed to hear a different approach, and wow, this piece almost sounds like Tracees!

I'll drone on later about it, but I must also mention the one new piece I heard, 1965's Hiketides. The Amazon sample happens to get the one bit of tonal mildness in the beginning, so, I wasn't expecting musch, but wow!, this piece reminds me a bit of Messiaen's Chronochromie. Aaaaand,... to top it all off, the final two minutes of this piece will simply astound you: Xenakis morphs into an ancient, beautiful melody, that had me thinking I was listening to a baroque string quartet,... until I realized it was Xenakis. Wow!, totally impressed. Totally!

Anyone else have Vol.5? Well,... you NEED it. :-*

ibanezmonster

Haven't listened to Psappha in a while.
Just listened to both versions I have (Leoson and Schick), and can't decide which one I like better. Leoson is slightly more fast and intense, while Schick is a little more thoughtful. And, of course, given the freedom of instrumentation, they sound completely different.

Have you seen the full score of it? I always thought it looks fascinating.

snyprrr

Quote from: Greg on December 30, 2011, 02:18:44 PM
Haven't listened to Psappha in a while.
Just listened to both versions I have (Leoson and Schick), and can't decide which one I like better. Leoson is slightly more fast and intense, while Schick is a little more thoughtful. And, of course, given the freedom of instrumentation, they sound completely different.

Have you seen the full score of it? I always thought it looks fascinating.

Those two complement one another perfectly.

I think I've seen snippets of the score. I generally like his way of notating. I once saw pictures representing the graphic representation of the beginning of Mikka. They look like little 'commas',... have you seen those? It must be time to look into one of the biographies? Where is pic central?


btw- I am so blown away by this Tamayo Metastaseis. Pithoprakta, however, I think I have so grown used to the 'sound' of that old le Roux, that when I heard the Luxembourg rumblings, the clarity, and stage image, were so different from what I was used to that I immediately was turned off. But, I let my emotions subside, and, of course, it's a mighty reading, with the digital recording bringing out unheard of detail. Tamayo has honed his players well in playing Xenakis, and every sound they make sounds so much different than these old war horse recordings. My ultimate early conclusion is that we need both: original recordings and one perfect modern antipode (ok, two!). You know Bernstein has a Pithoprakta on that giant box? I'd like to hear it now!

Achorripsis, also, I find that I'm so used to the old recording, that when the oboe (english horn? what is it?) comes in right after the 1:00 mark, I immediately reverted to the older version. Even though I must admit that the older version really gets the crazy carnival robot sound absolutely perfectly (with that funny bass drum overkill), Tamayo, again, brings out detail like nobody's business. Again, both versions are mandatory.

Again, with ST-48, I found the older version more 'precious' (it's also a minute faster), though, again, Tamayo selflessly sacrifices himself to bring us a mandatory second view. As a matter of fact, it is Tamayo's overarching brilliance in this final installment of basically all the early pieces up to 1965, to give us a perfect second version of these pieces that have only seen the light of day once in over forty years. The sheer consistency of the interpretations is itself a wonderful gift, and the orchestra (and the recording of them) is droolingly fruity. The brass especially seem to have been given special leeway in producing ravishingly avant sounds. Keep in mind that most of the previous cds in Tamayo's Cycle had later works featuring a totally different type of Xenakis playing. Here, Tamayo totally shifts gears and rips it like no one else (surely Bornstein wishes he were putting out more Xenakis).

I also has to give credit to the grooviest Xenakis cover ever, very retro! I really shortchanged this cd when it came out three years ago, but it is essential, and almost becomes a first choice introduction (at least '55-'65). Surely we all have everything else anyway, haha,... right?,... I know I now have three versions of Syrmos :o, which the notes tell me is his most inscrutable piece, and it certainly is apocalyptic sounding. There's no way I'm comparing now.



And to think I haven't found a date this year, huh. ::)

ibanezmonster

Quote from: snyprrr on December 30, 2011, 08:37:20 PM
I think I've seen snippets of the score. I generally like his way of notating.
The grid use of Psappha was probably influenced by Feldman...


Quote from: snyprrr on December 30, 2011, 08:37:20 PM
I once saw pictures representing the graphic representation of the beginning of Mikka. They look like little 'commas',... have you seen those? It must be time to look into one of the biographies? Where is pic central?
Hmm... the only unusual thing I see in the score of Mikka is that the legato lines are wavy instead of a normal curve.
If you wanna see, just google "Xenakis (name of score) pdf." They have about a third of his scores on mediafire, downloadable within seconds. I think this includes Mikka and Psappha.

snyprrr

Quote from: Greg on December 31, 2011, 05:50:23 AM
The grid use of Psappha was probably influenced by Feldman...

Hmm... the only unusual thing I see in the score of Mikka is that the legato lines are wavy instead of a normal curve.
If you wanna see, just google "Xenakis (name of score) pdf." They have about a third of his scores on mediafire, downloadable within seconds. I think this includes Mikka and Psappha.


oooo... goody!!

snyprrr

Quote from: James on January 15, 2012, 07:11:30 AM
ELECTRONIC MUSIC
Although Xenakis's electronic music accounts for a numerically tiny percentage of his entire output, his pioneer status in the field was incalculable. After assisting Edgard Varese on the preparation of his Poeme electronique, Xenakis's earliest electronic pieces Diamorphoses (1957) and Concret PH (1958) – the latter shaping a continuum from the crackle of burning charcoal – shared Varese's vision of otherworldly sound masses that disperse, re-configure and climax in feral glissandi that burst the sound barrier. Later Xenakis worked electronics into a sequence of installations he called Polytopes, where architecture and monolithic sonic blocks, packed with inner light and shade, were harvested from the same abstract designs. During the 1970s, Xenakis refined his UPIC software, a computer-based drawing tablet that allowed composers to sketch sounds and structures onto a screen, while listening to a real-time playback. Electronics go to the marrow of how Xenakis created a new syntax for sound without reference to Classical tradition.

[asin]B00005Y7YP[/asin]
(Diamorphes; Concret PH; Orient-Occident; Bohor; Hibiki-Hana-Ma; S.709: Electronic Music Foundation (EMF Media) This invaluable anthology of Xenakis electronica, beginning with Diamorphoses (1957) and ending in 1992 with the bracing S.709, has been transferred with crystal clarity by those boffins at the Electronic Music Foundation in New York. Hibiki-Hana-Ma – sounds transformed from acoustic instruments – is like hearing familiar instrumental hooks put through a shredder and re-formed as a purist soundscape.

(Rough Guide to Classical Music, 5th Edition)

I've been wanting to ask this:

What do you all think of X's later E/A music? The pieces include:

Mycenae Alpha
(Pour le Pax)
Taurhiphanie
Voyage absolu... Andromeda
GENDY 3
S.709

Frankly, I'm not sure I WANT to listen to any of them, though 'Voyage absolu...' might be my favorite.

M.Alpha is nice to LOOK at, but yeesh, it's so horrid,... horrid horrid...

I used to have the cd with GENDY3 & Taurhiphanie, but apparently they weren't enough to keep...

I have the s.709, and it is quite like a laser bean boring into your head at the speed of light,... my current problem is that I want to compare it to GENDY3,... ack, just let it go...

Anyhow, please try to convince me not to go and re-purchase all this old horrid stuff,... I'm not saying it's not 'good', haha,... just,... ack, it's no FUN to listen to (I'm such a Xenakis slave that I'm having a hard time convincing myself not to get stuff I JUST DON'T LIKE,... ahhhhh :o).

ibanezmonster

Quote from: snyprrr on January 16, 2012, 06:42:07 AM
Mycenae Alpha
(Pour le Pax)
Taurhiphanie
Voyage absolu... Andromeda
GENDY 3
S.709
None of those pieces are that great, and S.709 I can't even listen to.

ibanezmonster


Tetsugakusha

Hi there, what a pleasure to read that there are other weirdoes like me out there - I have just spent €30 for the "Holland Festival" CD set, also only for the sake of "Anemoessa", and I am as well a fan of "Nekuia", which I discovered two years ago  :o
Melomaniac greeting from Germany,

Thorsten aka Tetsugakusha

snyprrr

Quote from: Tetsugakusha on February 16, 2012, 08:00:09 AM
Hi there, what a pleasure to read that there are other weirdoes like me out there - I have just spent €30 for the "Holland Festival" CD set, also only for the sake of "Anemoessa", and I am as well a fan of "Nekuia", which I discovered two years ago  :o
Melomaniac greeting from Germany,

Thorsten aka Tetsugakusha

Haha, yes, we've been waiting for you! ;) 8) Aha... a man after my own heard, spending much money for 10mins. of music! :-*

Can you find someone in Germany to release that Erato Nekuia LP on cd??? Huh? huh?, can ya?, can ya?


I've been concentrating on the '50s-'60s lately, starting over, to get a more solid foundation for listening to 'later' works. Then I pulled out the Boulez Thallien, and wow!, what a Masterpiece!, such integration! I will have to gear up for some massive Posting here.

ibanezmonster

Quote from: Tetsugakusha on February 16, 2012, 08:00:09 AM
Hi there, what a pleasure to read that there are other weirdoes like me out there - I have just spent €30 for the "Holland Festival" CD set, also only for the sake of "Anemoessa", and I am as well a fan of "Nekuia", which I discovered two years ago  :o
Melomaniac greeting from Germany,

Thorsten aka Tetsugakusha
"Tetsugakusha-" nice name!  8)

snyprrr

Do we have free scores of Nuits?

snyprrr

Yes, I'm sorry if anyone got their hopes up by seeing the Thread pulled from the dustbin! :'( There is no Xenakis news to report,... oh, yea, other than the... ugh, NewRelease of the JACK Quartet at the Wigmore, playing, you got it, Tetras. That makes about 6-7 recordings to date ???,... mind boggling...

I have been listening to a lot of Xenakis lately, studying the rhythms. I don't care what anyone says, the application of Modern Science to rhythm, as it is applied in Xenakis,... it's just my favorite! All I can picture is all these balls bouncing around in a chamber, or the pattern of raindrops, or the workings of a vast machine (we are somewhat machines).

I do lament the lack of ANY substantive Xenakis 'New' release, now going on about 2 years. We've had the Euro compilation 'Alpha & Omerga', but no All-Xenakis new recordings, and,... take a breath... no World Premieres since, what, the '90s?

Before Greece falls, we need a Complete Xenakis Discography! >:D (pounding fists on keyboard)

Karl Henning

snypsss, you've dashed our hopes again!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

snyprrr

Quote from: karlhenning on June 23, 2012, 07:01:42 AM
snypsss, you've dashed our hopes again!

:'( :'( :'(

I'm a Thread Killer. Sometimes, just admitting it helps. :'( :'( :'(

CRCulver

Where can I find a recording of the original version of Nyuyo? I'm enjoying Cecile Daroux's transcription for flute and 3 guitars on an Naïve disc, but it would be nice to hear the Japanese instruments the piece was first written for.