The Percussions of Strasbourg

It has been said several times that, thanks to percussion, Xenakis reintroduced the problem of rhythm that was thought to have disappeared from contemporary music. Architect, engineer and composer, this genius of composition writes music whose complex and harmonious structure contrasts with the explosive energy that comes out of it. From Xenakis’ close collaboration with the Percussions de Strasbourg came two fundamental works, ten years apart: Persephassa in 1969 and Pléiades in 1979. The first, working on the spacialization of sound, is a sound choreography. The second is one of the composer’s most beautiful pieces. The richness of the timbres, the freedom and coherence of the composition make this work a unique rhythmic adventure. In 2022, we celebrate the Centenary of the composer as well as the Sixtieth birthday of Les Percussions de Strasbourg.

Exploring 20th-century repertoire – both acknowledged masterpieces and new discoveries – this 14-CD anthology reflects the diverse aesthetic strands of Pierre Boulez’s programming over the course of his ground-breaking and influential career. These Erato recordings, made between 1966 and 1992, feature composers otherwise absent from Boulez’s discography – Xenakis, Donatoni, Grisey, Dufourt, Ferneyhough, Harvey and Höller – and the first CD release of the interpretation of Stravinsky’s incantatory Les Soucoupes in the version for female voices and four horns.

Iannis Xenakis - Idmen & Pleiades - Les Pleiades, Choeur Gulbenkian, Sylvio Gualda (1992) {Erato 2292-45771-2}
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© 1992 Erato / MusiFrance | 2292-45771-2
Classical / Contemporary / Avant-Garde / Experimental / Choral / Percussion

This cd contains a neglected Xenakis masterpiece, IDMEN A/B (1984), for chorus and percussionSSS. It sustains the typical, classic, Xenakian hallmarks, but comes off as his most breezy, "feel good" piece. Obviously, the delicacy of the writing for multiple percussionists has something to do with it, but also, this is a mighty choral work utilizing all the favorite X tricks. I am really at a loss for words as to it's beauty. The fourth mouvement is the most perfect realization of Xenakis's "pelog" scale (which opens up JONCHAIES), very tropical, with the great Pacific vistas in mind. The percussion mouvements make for interesting comparison to the other piece on the cd.

From Strasbourg, France, this band declares influences from RIO artists like Art Bears, Zappa and Henry Cow as well as from Canterburians like Hatfield and the North and Soft Machine. The Loomings are: Maria Denami (vocals), Ludmila Schwartzwalder, (vocals, synth), Benoît Rameau (vocals, sax, synth), Louis Haessler (bass), Enrico Pedicone (Drums and Percussion) and Jacopo Costa (Druns and Percussion). Currently they have a bunch of single tracks on Bandcamp and the first full-length album released in 2015 by AltRock Productions. All the band members are classically trained and have previous collaborations and performances in the classical music world. They have taken part to the innovative music festival in Lainate (Milan) in September 2014.

Iannis Xenakis - Oresteïa - Ensemble de Basse-Normandie, Spiros Sakkas et al. (1990) {Salabert Actuels SCD8906 rec 1987}
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© 1987, 1990 Salabert Actuels | SCD8906
Classical / Modern Classical / Experimental / Avant-Garde / 20th Century

Oresteïa [1966] for children's choir, mixed choir and instrumental ensemble, for solo baritone and percussionist soloist on Greek texts from Aeschylus. Kassandra is an independent work, but it is obligatorily interpreted when one plays Oresteïa (which includes three other parts: Agamemnon, Choéphores, Euménides). Spiros Sakkas gives an unheard of interpretation, alternating head and chest. Because the soothsayers are always double beings, between reason and delirium.

Roscoe Mitchell - Splatter (2020) {i dischi di angelica IDA040 rec 2017}
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© 2017, 2020 i dischi di angelica | IDA040
Jazz / Contemporary Classical / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Internationally renowned musician and composer Roscoe Mitchell, since his debut with Sound in 1966, has defined his style through an innovative approach towards composition in what is traditionally an improvised music genre, pre-empting the development of jazz and its relationship with contemporary music in the following decades. Splatter, drawn from two concerts held at the AngelicA festival in Bologna in 2017, presents the most recent developments of this research, with two examples from his cycle Conversations for large orchestra.

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Tierkreis & Musik im Bauch (1992) {Stockhausen-Verlag No. 24}
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© 1975, 1992 Stockhausen-Verlag | Stockhausen 24
Classical / Avant-Garde / Experimental / 20th Century

Since 1991, a complete edition of all recordings in which Karlheinz Stockhausen has personally participated is being released on compact discs. Each CD in this series is identified by Stockhausen's signature followed by an encircled number. The numbers indicate the general historical order of the works. Stockhausen realised the electronic music and participated in these recordings as conductor, performer, sound projectionist, and musical director. He personally mixed down the recordings, mastered them for CDs, wrote the texts and drew the covers.