| Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis (Spectral View) |
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Metastasis or Metastaseis ("dialectic
transformations"), is an orchestral work by
Iannis Xenakis, a Greek composer-architect
and a major figure in the postwar development
of musical modernism worldwide. He is
particularly remembered for the pioneering
use of stochastic mathematical techniques in
his compositions, including probability
(Maxwell-Boltzmann kinetic theory of gases,
aleatory distribution of points on a plane,
minimal constraints, Gaussian distribution,
Markov chains), game theory, group theory,
Boolean algebra and Brownian motion.
Metastasis was inspired by Einstein's view of
time (a function of matter & energy) and
structured on mathematical ideas by Xenakis's
colleague Le Corbusier. The 1st and 3rd
movements don't have a melodic theme to hold
them together, but rather depend on the
strength of this conceptualization of time.
The 2nd movement does have some sort of
melodic element. A fragment of a 12-tone row
is used, with durations based on the
Fibonacci sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34...)
The preliminary sketch for Metastasis was in
graphic notation looking more like a
blueprint than a musical score, showing
graphs of mass motion and glissandi like
structural beams of the piece, with sound
frequencies on one axis and time on the
other. In this video I tried to display this
by presenting the frequency spectrum
(0-20.000Hz) of the piece and how Xenakis
actually "drew" music.
SWF Symphony Orchestra
Hans Rosbaud, conductor
October 1955
Tags : xenakis metastaseis metastasis avant-garde contemporary Darmstädter architecture |
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Affichage : 8963
Durée : 509 s |
| Iannis Xenakis- ST/10 (1/2) |
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ST/10 by Iannis Xenakis.
This is actually the least-heard version of
this work; I'm sure most people who are
viewing this are familiar with his similarly
named string quartet ST/4, which has been
recorded a couple times, most notably by the
Arditti Quartet. My friend formalized (I
suggest you all also subscribe to her videos
if you enjoy modern music) will be uploading
ST/4 in a few days for you also =) Sadly, I
had to reformat my hard drive a few months
ago, and lost my recording of ST/38, the
other version, but will try to get back. The
numbers in these titles refer to the number
of performers, which means that here 10
players are performing 38 tracks of music,
and yes, in ST/4 there are only four players
to deal with 38 instruments' worth of music.
It's very interesting to hear all of the
extended techniques required to achieve this
effect.
This piece is not available on any CD.
Composer- Iannis Xenakis
Composition- ST/10 (1962)
Performer- Ensemble Intercontemporain de
Paris
Tags : Xenakis ST/10 stochastic Darmstadt Ensemble Intercontemporain |
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Affichage : 339
Durée : 465 s |
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