Iannis Xenakis
One of the most important and radical composers of the 20th century, Xenakis' extremely complex musical composition remains fascinating even to non-scholars. Often removing all signs of melody and often incorporating mathematical equations and similar possibilities in his compositional style, his work often reaches straight for the gut and will make any listener react through the extreme nature of his styling.
I started being curious about Xenakis after hearing him mentioned along with Stockhausen (another composer for which I have huge respect) and even Nitsch. I am not an expert on Stockhausen and even less on Xenakis, but I just had to hear what the fuss was all about. I wanted to expand my musical horizons as much as possible and he seemed like a composer I might enjoy (that and the fact that Makoto Kawabata of Acid Mothers Temple mentioned that one of his favorite records was Oresteia. didn't turn me away either). And thankfully, this was also the first Xenakis work I heard after downloading a few mp3s. I listen to the first piece which was interesting but without catching my attention all that much, but once Kassandra, the second track, came on, with it's baritone singer singing in a huge and high-pitched vibrato, I was caught off-guard and it blew me away. I've been hooked ever since. Even though I still don't "own" many of his recordings, I do have them available to hear. No worries though, when the opportunity shows up once again, I'll be getting more.
KraanergLabel: Col Legno Music Production Release: 2003 Format: CD Cat. no: WWE 1CD 20217 |
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