Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
Mon, Feb 21 2011, 1:35PM
I may be talking to myself this week, but anyway, the 4th of this month witnessed the tenth anniversary of the passing of a truly unique composer in my view. I think a lot of people view Xenakis as a dry intellectual whose music could best be described as noise. I would fundamentally disagree with both ideas. Firstly Xenakis was a man who was almost killed fighting against Churchill´s tanks, and who subsequently spoke about music as his mission, his way to earn and justify his right to live after the guilt he felt in abandoning his country and people. A man who would row out to sea in thunder storms because he thought nature in its wildness was a beautiful thing. If you see Xenakis in interviews he seems a very warm person with a great sense of humour, so I think charges of being a cold intellectual with no interest in the aesthetics or pleasure of music are way off, in fact he frequently argued against the common view of his works as mathematical exercises, and was at pains to stress the wider contexts, personal, political, and artistic of his music. Secondly I think a big problem people have with Xenakis is that they have too many preconceptions about what music should be.
My attraction to Xenakis´ music was and remains mostly visceral. Although I find some of his methods, I can´t claim to understand all of them, fascinating, it´s the sheer exuberance of his music that bowls me over every time. His music for me is a great affirmation of energy and life, and always puts a smile on my face, its intrinsic power just sweeps me away.
For anybody curious about his music, there are different entry points I could recommend, depending on your standpoint. You could start with his solo or chamber works, there is a wonderful double CD on Naive. The difficulty of this music tends to attract only great performers. Nomos Alpha for cello for example, or the hypnotic unchanging tempo of his string quartet Tetora, the piano quintet Akea is another of my favourites.
Or you could dive in at the deep end with one of his massive, spectacular orchestral pieces like Jonchaies for example. Or if you want a truly otherwordly experince immerse yourself in the electronic La Legende D´Eer, the first time I heard it was truly jawdropping. Not something you can listen to everyday, but incredible nonetheless.
Mon, Feb 21 2011, 10:41PM
#2
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
Thank you for your kind words John.
Mon, Feb 21 2011, 10:44PM
#3
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
Talking to yourself, Dubrob? - no, I predict a full postbag...
My own favourite is another great double CD, now I believe on Apex although mine is an old Erato "Ultima", which was acquired under slightly unusual circumstances. The first Xenakis I'd heard was Keqrops at a Prom in about 1986 - it didn't mean much at the time, but then I read somewhere that Nuits was dedicated to political prisoners and A l'Ile de Gorée to African slaves, so I thought this fellow must have something interesting to say. I bought the said double disc in a sale in my local music shop, took it home and then heard straight away on the news that he had died. (I'd always thought I'd bought it on the actual day of his death, but checking the calendar I see that was a Sunday, so it must have been a day or two later.)
Anyway, it's a splendid disc, probably as good a place to start as any, and includes two pieces that have remained favourites with me - Phlegra and A l'Ile de Gorée. I'd agree with Jonchaies as a place to start with the orchestral music, but required listening has got to be Metastaseis, the official Opus 1. (When Varèse heard it he said "This is the music of tomorrow" - quite a recommendation.) Xenakis himself apparently thought the first recording, under Hans Rosbaud, was the best, although I'm pretty happy with the versions by Arturo Tamayo and Charles Bornstein - the latter also including first recordings of the first two parts of the trilogy of which Metastaseis was intended as the third. They're extraordinary in demonstrating the distance Xenakis had travelled in a couple of years - the first part could almost be Debussy, the second sounds like late Varèse, and Metastaseis... sounds like the work of a composer from the Andromeda galaxy.
Other favourites of mine include Aïs (perhaps not a place for new listeners to start - it demands some fairly extended vocal techniques from the solo baritone, although nothing that would sound too out-of-place in Hindustani vocal music) and, if I want to lose myself for an entire evening, Kraanerg.
DF
Tue, Feb 22 2011, 11:27AM
#4
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
Dave, I couldn`t agree more with everything you said. I have that Erato CD, marvellous stuff. The works you mentioned are indeed wonderful, as are those pieces for solo amplified harpsichord, I don´t have the disc to hand so I can´t remember their names.
Nuits was comissioned by the Shah of Iran, and Xenakis dedicated the piece to the people, especially the political prisoners, suffering under his regime, such was the calibre of the man.
Metastseis is probably the easiest place to enter Xenakis´ world, and I agree, in the context of the trilogy, his rapid development must be unequalled in musical history. Has there ever been a greater Opus 1?, Berg´s Piano Sonata is the only other that comes to mind.
I don´t know Kraanerg, but I certainly mean to, it´s heartwarming to know others find pleasure travelling through Xenakis´ musical galaxy.
Tue, Feb 22 2011, 7:31PM
#5
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
He's one of my musical gaps but I'm encouraged to find our library has a fair old selection so will follow some of your pointers.
Wed, Feb 23 2011, 2:11AM
#6
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
I'm not familiar with his works, but the performance of 'Dikhthas' for violin & piano on Carolin Widmann's ECM recital disc was absolutely jawdropping for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhQadQezN10
(Irvine Arditti & Claude Helffer)
Thu, Feb 24 2011, 9:35PM
#7
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
A few years back I was listening to lots of noise music by artists like Merzbow and Yellow Swans, when one evening a friend insisted we listen all the way through Legende D'Eer at a borderline painful volume. I was blown away, especially by it's abilitly to be both fragile and violent at the same time. It completely chimed with the noise music I was subjecting myself to at the time (Merzbow's "1930" is well worth investigating btw). As with lots of extremely visceral music you need to hit a certain volume in order to get some of those hidden frequencies vibrating, opening that portal to another dimension. Looking back from the vantage point of 2011, his music feels far more relevant and organic than lots of the serial music of the post-war years. It doesn't feel the need to explain itself, it just is what it is - a force of nature.
Fri, Feb 25 2011, 3:42AM
#8
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
Got Kraanerg out of the local library yesterday, waited til the wife was out and gave it a run through. Quite a surprise. I was braced for what a friend of mine used to call 'bed of nails music'. Far from it. He feeds the ear and the heart as well as the brain so without pretending to have any idea what's going on you're thoroughly engaged. I loved the variations in textures and dynamics (including the breaks of silence). As has been said above, visceral music the way the best rock and jazz is. In addition, the notes accompanying this disc (Callithumpian Consort, recorded in Boston) are superb, helpful without over-simplifying, challenging without lapsing into gobbledygook.
I know its dangerous to compare one composer with another, but back to the wall and asked to say who Xenakis sounds like I'd have to say Roberto Gerhard, a long-time favourite of mine. A similar heady delight in a huge range of sounds.
Our library also has the Xenakis Pleiades, currently out. Anybody know it?
Fri, Feb 25 2011, 12:25PM
#9
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
Personally Pleiades is one I could do without, it's a piece for percussion only the monotony of which doesn't really work for me.
Sat, Feb 26 2011, 11:47AM
#10
RE: Composer of the week : Iannis Xenakis
I also did not find Pleiades so gripping as other works. I love his chamber music as presented on a Montaigne double CD (Arditti Qt & Claude Helffer), which includes quartet pieces as well as stunning works for solo violin and cello plus the suggestive "Mists" for piano. I also love the electronic "Légende d'Eer" - but there are so many. I must admit, however, that when I first heard his music on the radio many years ago I was not so impressed - it was live performances that changed my mind. Anyone wants their ears, minds and guts shaken up and spring-cleaned? Go to the nearest Xenakis concert and forget about Radiohead ;-). You will get more pleasure out of your CDs afterwards.
A superb, inspiring post, Durob. Thank you! I wish I had something of value to add, but I have to confess I've never knowingly heard a single piece of Xenakis's. You put me much closer to doing so.
John