Xenakis

This ambitious and beautifully produced two-CD set includes nearly all of Iannis Xenakis' chamber music for strings, piano, and strings and piano combined. Chamber music constituted a small part of the composer's output, since large ensembles and large forms were vehicles more commensurate with the aesthetic of his monumental, granitic music. There are no small pieces here, though; in each of these works, ranging from solos to a quintet for piano and strings, Xenakis was able to express his uncompromising vision no less ferociously than in his orchestral works. While all of the pieces have an elemental character, many with a visceral punch, the actual sound of the music is surprisingly varied, and the individual works have distinctive and individual characters. In spite of the weightiness and rigor of the music, the tone is not necessarily heavy, and some pieces, like Evryali for piano and Dikhthas for violin and piano, have moments of what could almost be described as whimsicality.

For the last batch of our Iannis Xenakis retrospective, we have remastered important recordings from the late 60s that had never been re-issued since their original LP version. The works here conducted by Marius Constant include the Polytope de Montréal, composed for an installation Xenakis made in the French pavilion of the 1967 World Fair, including a sensational light show. It has never been recorded otherwise! Also included are the ballet Kraanerg, number-theory-inspired Syrmos, and mythological works Medea (also an absolute premiere) and Oresteia (probably his stage masterpiece).

Violinist Irvine Arditti, pianist Claude Helffer, and the Spectrum ensemble conducted by Guy Protheroe produce consummate performances of the Greek avant-gardist's unwieldy chamber music. If you're familiar with Xenakis's career you'll know he was trained in mathematics and enjoyed a successful career as an architect. Such background might prepare you for the music's preoccupation with line, volume, and form in an unusually abstract way, but it won't prepare you for its visceral, almost primitive power. On Akanthos, the singer Penelope Walmsley-Clark must cope with what is surely one of the most ridiculous soprano parts ever written.

Known for drawing unusual sonorities from conventional instruments, Xenakis strangely left the piano's potential for novel sounds unexplored. In these works, Xenakis stays on the keyboard without so much as a plucked string or any use of gadgetry to alter the instrument's sound. Although that might make these pieces appear less radical, even "safe," Xenakis exploits every other option available.

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.

In 1968 the choreographer George Balanchine made a ballet from two works by Xenakis Metastaseis and Pithoprakta and the following year he commissioned Xenakis to compose an original score for New York City Ballet. Antikhthon turned out to be one of the great might-have-been collaborations: Xenakis completed the score in 1971, but the work was never staged. The concept of Antikhthon Anti-Earth or Counter-Earth was first proposed by the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus of Croton around 400 BC. He speculated that there was a Counter-Earth a hypothetical heavenly body that revolved with the earth around a Central Fire. This led to Philolaus being credited as one of the first to propose that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, but that it was in an orbit around the Sun (Central Fire), with the other planets.

„Electroacoustic Works“ celebrates the 100th anniversary of Iannis Xanakis (on May 29th, 2022), one of the most influential 20th century avantgarde composers. For the first time, the complete electroacoustic works of Xenakis are now available on record! All tracks have been newly mixed by longtime zeitkratzer sound engineer Martin Wurmnest and mastered by Rashad Becker and finally reveal their full sonic range and dynamics. Booklet with English / German liner notes by R. Friedl (zeitkratzer) and rare photos from the Xenakis archive.