Iannis Xenakis 1: Chamber Music 1955-1990 [Import]

Iannis Xenakis (Performer), David Alberman (Performer), Irvine Arditti (Performer), Claude Helffer (Performer), Garth Knox (Orchestra), Rohan de Saram (Artist), Arditti String Quartet (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Iannis Xenakis, David Alberman, Irvine Arditti, Claude Helffer
• Orchestra: Garth Knox
• Audio CD (September 24, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Disques Montaigne
• ASIN: B000003VQA
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #985,339 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Tetras For String Quartet

2. Mists For Solo Piano

3. Kottos For Solo Cello

4. Herma For Solo Piano

5. Embellie For Solo Viola

6. A R. For Solo Piano (Hommage a Ravel)

7. Mikka For Solo Violin

8. Mikka 'S' For Solo Violin

9. Akea Quintet For Piano And Strings

Disc: 2

1. Dikhthas For Violin And Piano

2. Tetora For String Quartet

3. Nomos Alpha For Solo Cello

4. Ikhoor For String Trio

5. Evryali For Solo Piano

6. St-4 For String Quartet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars classic Xenakis in a changing world,ferocious/gentle playing, June 8, 1999

By 

Rachel Abbinanti ([e-mail]) (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iannis Xenakis 1: Chamber Music 1955-1990 (Audio CD)

All the great Xenakis pieces are here from different points in his life. It was someone's plan to have the young and the not-so-old Xenakis with points within the same genre here like the two string quartets and the cello and piano solos.The piano solo"Herma" when written in 1960-61 was considered utterly impossible to play.A mere 9 minutes of unrestrained frenzy,of changing, shifting registers,somehow Xenakis thought of different voices emerging spatially. His latter piano solo music engages more concentrated densely packed structures continuously unfolding like some uniterrupted part of nature gone bad, as in "mists" Also"evryali" which means something of a frenzy and has become the pianists balloon trip around the globe.Helffer seems to work better at this music than the older Schoenberg generation repertoire I've heard him play. He has a light unarrogant touch,going for the brightness of sound. The cello solos are great here as well by a premiere Xenakis interpreter Rohan de Sarem,who really has been in the Arditti shadow too long, Here in "Nomos Alpha"(another early work 1966) was the high point of computer usage,but for Xenakis it was all a means toward creating his endpoints his music of primordial affinities. Xenakis if you ever read him in interviews maintains an aesthetic that praises the naturalness of sound constitution,how a graphic image can portray sound. "Nomos" is a great example of that, with rugged resonant plucking mixed with quarter-tone moments acting as stopping points within the unceasing momentum, the glissandi as well and the double stops sounding like a B-52 about to take off.The violin solos "mikka" a mere 4 minutes is from 1971 and Arditti here is a great Xenakis player. The most difficult aspect of playing any Xenakis is that your traditional performance experiences doesn't help you. You need to start from scratch,knowing that there is another form of tone production and alternate concepts of what constitutes a beautiful tone.The solo violin piece"mikka" exploits the various glissandi, in fact it is a one-idea piece,Arditti reveals an impassivity as if his instrument and sensibility is a mere conduit for an abstract structure of sound."Tetras" for string quartet is simply one of those works which seems to transcend whatever the composer had in mind. This work seems like music you have never heard before in any way. It inhabits its own gestural sonic world, moving at once a slow then fast pace. You never sense that is it a string quartet,merely a body of strings. All seem to collapse into one sound. But here Xenakis focuses on the smaller particles of sound, as opposed to the "clouds" and "mists" of sound conceptions he is fond of. You never sense a beginning,middle or end. The cello solo"Kottos" is a leathery sounding excursion into repetition,unrelenting brutalized momentum. These qualities inform much of the latter solos Xenakis has written.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing and impressive!, November 23, 1998

By 

Jung, Sung-Young([e-mail]) (South Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iannis Xenakis 1: Chamber Music 1955-1990 (Audio CD)

Amazing sound! incredible performance! I cannot imagine how such a exquisite sound can be performed with string intruments. I never heard such a marvelous sound, It is unforgettable experience. I think that the title work, "Tetra", is most amazing and worth to be evaluated as new musical revolutionary works. It is also amazing that all works are based on mathematics such as statistics, stochastic process, group theory... This CD shows that Xenakis's contribution to make connection with mathematics and music.

14 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Young Music for Young Lovers, July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Iannis Xenakis 1: Chamber Music 1955-1990 (Audio CD)

Xenakis makes the best mood music for Generation X, HANDS DOWN! My boyfriend and I love to cuddle and smooch to such sentimental works as "Dikthas" and "Herma." "Tetras," however, leads to "other things," IF you know what I mean. ;-) In short, it's a double album for all kinds of evenings.

For those of you who are swingin' single, check out the sexy pictures within! Iannis' mighty nostrils and torso never disappoint.