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Iannis Xenakis
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Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition (Harmonologia Series) 2nd Edition

by Iannis Xenakis (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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Pendragon Press is proud to offer this new, revised, and expanded edition of Formalized Music, Iannis Xenakis's landmark book of 1971. In addition to three totally new chapters examining recent breakthroughs in music theory, two original computer programs illustrating the actual realization of newly proposed methods of composition, and an appendix of the very latest developments of stochastic synthesis as an invitation to future exploration, Xenakis offers a very critical self-examination of his theoretical propositions and artistic output of the past thirty-five years. This edition of Formalized Music is an essential tool for understanding the man and the thought processes of one of this century's most important and revolutionary musical figures.
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  1. ISBN-10
    1576470792
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1576470794
  3. Edition
    2nd
  4. Publisher
    Pendragon Pr
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 1992
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  8. Print length
    400 pages
  9. See all details
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4.7 out of 5 stars
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  • Adam Luhring
    5.0 out of 5 stars Mathematically dense but extremely prescient
    Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    "It is by standing on the shoulder of giants." You may not find this book particularly readable (particularly if you're not mathematically inclined), and there's a fair amount of abstract philosophizing that can be difficult to practically reconnect to composition. That said, every chapter of this book presents radically new ideas, worked out with rigor and intention. Many of them have stood the test of time better than anyone could have imagined:
    -His representation of musical states as states in a Markov Chain is similar to the probabilities derived in modern neural network representations of music
    -His application of sieve theory is still in use
    -His applications of game theory informed many other composers, and could be employed profitably today
    -His critiques of the practicality of the Fourier Transform in composition are the same ones being used to justify Wavelet Transforms today almost 20 years after his death.
    -This is where you'll find a full explanation of his GENDY method of synthesis and the various extensions, still in use today and available in programs such as CSound

    I will say, of the reviewer who called Xenakis pretentious for inventing Greek words: Xenakis was Greek. That's like complaining Shakespeare coined the word "luggage". Highly intelligent speakers have every right to expand their native language if they feel it's inadequate to exposit their views.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Joseph Davenport
    5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible book. This has been crucial in my growth ...
    Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Incredible book. This has been crucial in my growth as a musician, as well as the start of conversation when carried about in public... Requires a lot of fluency and comprehension as the material presented implores ones own investigation/exploration in the written subject(s).
    One person found this helpful
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  • calvinnme
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great for anyone interested in algorithmic composition
    Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2006
    If you liked Curtis Road's "Microsound", you might like this book. However, be warned that it is not for the faint of heart. You need to be well versed in music theory and mathematics to get the most from it. It has a very academic tone, but has some unique things to say about algorithmic composition that makes it worthwhile. Also be warned that much of it is translated from the original French, so that makes some phrases in the book seem oddly worded. I guess I would best describe it as the "Godel,Escher,Bach" of algorithmic composers. It's rough going, but once you "get" what Xenakis is saying, you will have a perspective on algorithmic composition that is invaluable.
    This book includes:
    1) six chapters that are the translation of Musiques formelles, including the appendixes.
    2) two chapters that are translations, with some additions, of the chapters "Vers une metamusique" and "Vers une philosophie de la musique" from "Musique Architecture".
    3) "New Proposals in Microsound Structure", where Xenakis challenges sound synthesis by Fourier analysis and proposes a new synthesis based on probability theories.
    4) "Concerning Time, Space and Music", which is similar to the article "Sur le temps" (1988). This paper describes time as intrinsically related to space and then ties this relationship to music.
    5) "Sieves" and "Sieves : a User's guide," which constitute the two sections of the article "Sieves" (1990). The first chapter explains in detail the construction of sieves and the second reproduces the computer program that generates this construction. Sieves are integer sequence generators that can help generate pitch scales and rhythm sequences in compositions.
    6) "Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis", which involves multiple levels of probabilistic functions that determine the break points in an envelope that in turn describe one cycle in an audio waveform.
    7) "More Thorough Stochastic Music" provides the program of dynamic stochastic analysis that was used for the first version of Gendy, which was a computer program written by Xenakis that performed sound synthesis.
    8) an annex on "The new UPIC system" based on an article from 1990 written by the engineers at CEMAMU at the time (G. Marino, J.M. Raczinski, M.H. Serra). CEMAMU is an acronym for "Centre d'Etudes de Mathematique et Automatique Musicales". The UPIC console is a direct-input graphics device that allows for one to escape the messy complexities of musical notation in the scoring of complex electronic sounds.
    It is hard to find anything on the web written by Xenakis that is not in French, so this book is about the only way for English speakers to enjoy this man's work.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Autonomeus
    5.0 out of 5 stars Xenakis and the road not taken
    Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2002
    This is an incredible work, the concentrated expression of Xenakis' philosophy of music, and the category he pioneered, "stochastic music." Of course very few composers have followed Xenakis into this new universe -- Roger Reynolds is perhaps the best and most important, though Xenakis is only one of his key sources.

    "Musiques Formelles" was originally published in French in 1963, and the English edition dates from 1971. The potential reader should know that the better part of the book is expressed in mathematics. It therefore provides a working basis for an aspiring stochastic music composer, but not what most of the rest of us consider gripping reading.

    I found the discussion of the use of "screens" in composition based on Markov chains to be intelligible, but there are pages and pages of equations that I would only read if it would further a goal such as a stochastic composition. There are, however, several powerful passages in chapters I ("Free Stochastic Music") and VIII ("Towards a Philosophy of Music") that are crucial for anyone interested in 20th century music.

    It would be a great development if Xenakis was to belatedly replace the minimalists as a major force in "contemporary classical"/"new music" !!
    28 people found this helpful
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  • Jung, Sung-Young(syjung@lgcit.com)
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unique theory book for music based on mathematics
    Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 1998
    It is Unique theory book for music based on mathematics as I know. Xenakis's musical world is based on modern mathematics. He use statistics, stochastic process, game theory, group theory, etc. in order to formalize macro level musical structure. This book shows how mathematics can be applied to music. He insists that the criterion for aesthetics of music be "intelligence", not beauty. I think that It is historical publication in music theory area.
    22 people found this helpful
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