Good Morning

Sunday Slouching

It has been a lovely vernal sunny day,
    and one in which I walked down to the local shop to get a pizza and a can of cider for my lunch.
Rest of the day has been reading yesterday's newspaper and listening to the stochastic music of Iannis Xenakis

I have also printed out a Primer on his music from Wire issue 259 (September 2005).

Expect a music post soon.

Xenakis 1

As stated some Iannis Xenakis -

Iannis Xenakis - Pléiades (1979)

Iannis Xenakis (1922 - 2001) - Pléiades for percussions (1979)

I. Mélanges (00:00)
II. Métaux (08:30)
III. Claviers (21:58)
IV. Peaux (32:00)

Iannis Xenakis - "Terretektorh" for Orchestra

Iannis Xenakis - "Jonchaies" for 109 musicians (1977)

Iannis Xenakis - Horos (1986)

"Another approach to the mystery of sounds is the use of cellular automata which I have employed in several instrumental compositions these past few years. This can be explained by an observation which I made: scales of pitch (sieves) automatically establish a kind of global musical style, a sort of macroscopic "synthesis" of musical works, much like a spectrum of frequencies, or iterations, of the physics of particles. Internal symmetries or
their dissymmetries are the reason behind this. Therefore, through a discerning logico-aesthetic choice of "non-octave" scales, we can obtain very rich simultaneities (chords) or linear successions which revive and generalize tonal, modal or serial aspects. It is on this basis of sieves that cellular automata can be useful in harmonic progressions which create new and rich timbric fusions with orchestral instruments. Examples of this can be found in
works of mine such as Ata, Horos." Iannis Xenakis 1992



Enjoy.

Xenakis 2

More of the Greek architectonic sound sculpturer -


Iannis Xenakis - Electro-Acoustic Music

Bohor I 1962
Concret P-H II 1958
Diamorphoses II 1957
Orient-Occident III 1959-1960

Iannis Xenakis - Ikhoor

Members of the Arditti String Quartet

The string trio may be a delicate, Classical ensemble, but the opening of Xenakis' Ikhoor (1978) sounds more like The Rite of Spring than a work of Haydn. The title means "nectar of the gods": these are not, however, the genteel gods of "evolved" civilizations and this is not tea they are drinking. This is powerful, gritty music, taking the primal pulsations of rhythm as a starting point and in turn building a series of evocative episodes; it is no accident that Ikhoor was conceived in close proximity to Xenakis' percussion work Pléïades.

Iannis Xenakis - Mists

Composed in 1980 for Roger Woodward, Mists is the third of Xenakis's mature piano solo compositions.

The linear material which alternates with the "mists" is frighteningly complex rhythmically. Unlike evryali, where the melodic curves "snap" to a grid of 16th notes, the lines are carefully notated in free-flowing rhythmic values. Incredibly enough, there are several errors in the score; it would seem at times even Xenakis set the bar a little too high, or it could simply be an engraver error. This came to light when in sequencing, we didn't arrive at our bar line, or whatever. If anyone is interested, let me know.

The "mist" material abandons rhythmic notation, and in ways is similar to Cage's "star chart" composing style; "splatter" music.


Iannis Xenakis -Tetras

Tetras, for string quartet (1983)

Arditti String Quartet

Tetras stands as one of the very finest chamber compositions of Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. It is also one of the most original, profoundly challenging contributions to the string quartet genre. "Tetras" means "four" in ancient Greek, and the composer treats the four players as a single entity throughout most of the sixteen minutes of the piece. This multi-bodied, many-stringed organism vibrates with intense energy, the strings oscillating at lightning speed as glissando contours take shape across the registral continuum. It is no coincidence that Tetras was written for the Arditti String Quartet, a group that sealed its reputation as the leading proponent of challenging new repertoire with its exhilarating, awe-inspiring performances of such demanding works.

Enjoy.

By Crumb!

Another of my fave composers -not Greek- but American.


George Crumb - Makrokosmos Vol.I (1-4) (1972)

1. Primaeval Sounds (Genesis I). Cancer
2. Proteus. Pisces
3. Pastorale (from the Kingdom of Atlantis, ca 10000 B.C.). Taurus
4. Crucifixus (Symbol). Capricorn

Laurie Hudicek, pianoforte.

George Crumb- Apparition: I. The Night in Silence Under Many a Star

George Crumb - Vox Balaenae

VOX BALAENAE
Choreography and dance : Tero Saarinen
Music : George Crumb, "Vox Balaenae"
performed by Ensemble intercontemporain soloists:
Sophie Cherrier (flute) / Hideki Nagano (piano) / Pierre Strauch (cello)

Lighting and set design : Mikki Kunttu
Costume design : Erika Turunen
Sound design : Marco Melchior
Choreographer's Assistants :Satu Halttunen / Henrikki Heikkilä / Sini Länsivuori

Recorded November 6, 2011, Automne en Normandie,
Le Rive Gauche, Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France

Realisation and Editing : Anne Delrieu (Radiofonies Europe)
Cameraman : Fabien Leca (Radiofonies Europe)

Kronos Quartet - George Crumb "Black Angels"

Enjoy.