Iannis Xenakis - Electroacoustic Works '2021

Tracks list

ANNIS XENAKIS (1922-2001) is one of the most important composers of the 20th
century avantgarde whose influence on music can be traced to the present day
– not only in the world of conservatory-trained composers but also in
various streams of current non-academic underground aesthetics such as
experimental electronic music, noise and industrial.
After he arrived in Paris in 1947, XENAKIS not only studied composition with
MESSIAEN and later became a member of the famous GRM (Groupe de recherches
musicales), he also worked as assistant to the famous architect LE CORBUSIER and
realized a.o. the Philips Pavilion for the
World Exhibition in Brussels 1958. His compositions often are based on
mathematical principles which give his music an unprecedented aesthetic and
“shocking otherness” (The Guardian).
Although XENAKIS also composed for orchestra (his most famous works are
“Metastasis“, “Pithoprakta” and
“Terretektorh”), electronic music became his way for exploring new
ideas and concepts and to develop new techniques like a graphic interface for
sound synthesis or later, when
computers were easier accessible, his so-called "stochastic synthesis" (Gendy 3,
S.709 > Disc V, Late Works).
XENAKIS’ first electroacoustic pieces (Disc I) like
“Diamorphoses” or “Bohor” turned out groundbreaking
works while the latter even caused, as MICHEL CHION put it, the “greatest
scandal of electroacoustic music” on the occasion of its performance 1968
at the GRM in Paris.
His so-called „Polytopes“ (Discs II - IV) were overwhelming
multimedia performances with especially designed architectures, laser and light
shows etc. where sometimes up to several hundred loudspeakers were used to move
the sounds in space. For example his most famous
composition “Persepolis”, commissioned by the Persian Shah,
premiered in 1971 in Shiraz-Persepolis (Iran) as a performance including
light-tracks, laser beams, groups of children walking around with torches and 59
loudspeakers to project the music in an open-air situation.
The most radical aspects of sound can be found in Xenakis' late work and its
merciless reduction to harsh, almost ruthless sound synthesis. In the early
nineties, he devoted himself to the concept of a composing machine: a machine
that designs everything independently and calculates the finished piece, the
algorithm is the work.

For the first time, the complete electroacoustic works of XENAKIS are now
available on record – the truly overdue testimony and legacy of a
restless investigator and explorer of sound. Years of source studies and
comparative research by zeitkratzer director REINHOLD FRIEDL, in
collaboration with sound engineer MARTIN WURMNEST, made these critically
reflected stereo mixes possible, which were appropriately mastered by RASHAD
BECKER and which, in addition to the aspect of fidelity to the source, put the
listener in the center. Xenakis' adventurous music can now finally be enjoyed in
its full sonic range and dynamic.


Tracks:

CD1: Early Works
01. Diamorphoses (1957) (07:03)
02. Concret PH (1958) (02:50)
03. Orient-Occident (1961) (11:21)
04. Bohor (1962) (21:52)


CD2: Les Polytopes I
01. Hibiki Hana-Ma (1969) (18:01)
02. Mycenae Alpha (1978) (09:55)
03. Polytope de Cluny (1972) (24:52)


CD3: Les Polytopes II
01. Persépolis (1972) (55:14)


CD4: Les Polytopes III
01. La légende d'Eer (1978) (46:12)


CD5: Late Works
01. Taurhiphanie (1987-88) (11:04)
02. Voyage absolu des Unari vers Andromède (1989) (15:49)
03. Gendy 3 (1991) (19:06)
04. S.709 (1992) (07:20)


Bonus track
01. Hibiki Hana-Ma (Binaural Mix) (17:49) 

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