Xenakis - Black Angel, A Life of Arshile Gorky by Nouritza Matossian

www.rfh.org.uk/xenakis 08703 800 400
XENAKIS
architect in sound
7-9 october 2005
Queen Elizabeth Hall . Purcell Room
builder of
dense and
dazzling
sonic
masses
sonic
explorer,
architect of
musical
space

South Bank Centre London
Queen Elizabeth Hall . Purcell Room
XENAKIS
architect in sound
7-9 october 2005
crackling
electricity, sonic explorer,
muscle and rhythm,
frightening and thrilling,
onslaught, astonishing,
violent, hurtling, furious,
viscerally exciting,
ritualistic, raw, mad
tingle, teasingly complex,
physical impact,
ferocious, playful, frozen
music, stretch your ears,
freedom fighter, extreme
Iannis Xenakis was a pioneer: an explorer of the furthest extremes of sound, a
builder of dense and dazzling sonic masses, an architect of musical space.
This is music of visceral power, at once organic and hi-tech, suggesting huge
natural rock formations as much as futuristic architecture, rainstorms as much
as mathematical constructions. Xenakis was a brave outsider: as a young Greek
resistance fighter, he was left for dead, wounded by a British bomb in the
aftermath of World War ll. A mathematician, engineer and architect who worked
on some of Le Corbusier’s most famous buildings, Xenakis stood apart from the
post-war musical orthodoxy, and rewrote the book on composing music from his
highly individual perspective. It is this bold individuality that has made him an
inspiration to younger generations of composers, electronic artists and
performers.
BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BBC SINGERS
FRI 7 OCT QEH 7.30PM
Jac van Steen and Stephen Betteridge conductors
Varèse Integrales
Xenakis Nuits
Xenakis Sea Nymphs
Xenakis Schaar
Xenakis Alax
Stravinsky Canticum Sacrum
The BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers start the weekend
with a monumental programme. Architectural forms are evoked in the
clusters of sound and sweeping curves of Schaar, while in Alax the
orchestra splits itself into three groups to articulate musical space.
Voices are treated like instruments in the intensely dark Nuits, dedicated
to political prisoners under the Greek military regime. The concert is
framed by two ritualistic works by composers admired by Xenakis:
Varese’s start sonic expoloration Integrales and Stravinsky’s Canticum
Sacrum, written for the cavernous spaces of St Mark’s in Venice.
£22, £18, £14, £11, £8
ROLF HIND PIANO
SAT 8 OCT PR 4PM
Xenakis Mists
Messiaen Canteyodjaya
Feldman Palais de mari
Xenakis Evryali
Speaking of Morton Feldman, whom he greatly admired, Xenakis said
‘the only difference between us is that his average level is very soft,
mine is very high!’. In this recital, Rolf Hind contrasts Feldman’s
extreme stillness with the virtuosity of two Xenakis piano pieces.
Both Mist and Evralyi are like forces of nature. The music grows and
proliferates organically, like the branches of trees. Rolf Hind
completes his recital with Messiaen in his most experimental mode
in the complex and compelling Canteyodjaya.
£12
ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION
SAT 8 OCT PR 6PM
Dennis Marks chairs a panel of speakers including Nouritza Matossian, journalist, broadcaster and author of a
major biography of Xenakis.
Admission free
www.rfh.org.uk/xenakis (£1.50 transaction fee)
08703 800 400 (daily 9.30am – 8pm, £1.50 transaction fee)
In person at the Box Office (daily 11am – 8pm, no fee)
Concessions 50% off (limited availability / Jobseekers Allowance,
Income Support, Senior Citizens, 16 and unders, full time students /
Appropriate cards will be checked on admission)
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www.rfh.org.uk/xenakis 08703 800 400
ARDITTI STRING QUARTET
NICOLAS HODGES PIANO
Sat 8 Oct QEH 7.30pm
Xenakis Tetora, for string quartet
Xenakis ST/4, for string quartet
Xenakis Kottos, for solo cello
Xenakis Akea, for piano quintet
Xenakis Dikhthas, for violin and piano
Xenakis Ikhoor, for string trio
Xenakis Tetras, for string quartet
Xenakis treasured the musicianship of the Arditti Quartet - ‘they can
hold a sound with undiminished beauty’, he said - and he worked
closely with the group to create deeply authentic performances of his
works. In this programme, the full expressive range of the Ardittiis is
to the fore. The virtuosic glissandi of Tetras contrast with the shifting
clouds of sound in ST/4, one of a series of works in which Xenakis
employed ‘stochastic’ principles: mathematical notions of probability.
£16, £12
SOMETHING RICH AND STRANGE
SUN 9 OCT QEH 5.30PM
Mark Kidel’s beautiful film traces Xenakis’ extraordinary life in music, science and architecture and takes him
back to his school on the Greek island of Spetsa to reveal memories of his childhood and education. In a
touching moment, Xenakis stands in an ancient amphitheatre and, in a word-perfect flashback to a schoolboy
performance, recites part of The Tempest: ‘Nothing of him doth remain, but doth suffer a sea-change, into
something rich and strange’.
Admission free
LONDON SINFONIETTA
SUN 9 OCT QEH 7PM
Diego Masson conductor ˘
Elisabeth Chojnacka harpsichord
XXX mezzo-soprano
XXX piano
Xenakis Waarg
Xenakis A l’ile de Gorée
Xenakis Jalons
Xenakis ST/10
Xenakis Akanthos
Xenakis Eonta
Diego Masson, who conducted the first performances of many of Xenakis’s works, fronts the London
Sinfonietta in a programme of colourful and theatrical ensemble pieces. Two spectacular keyboard concertos
form the pillars of the programme: A l’ile de Gorée for harpsichord and ensemble was written as a homage to
black slaves traded at the market on the island of Goée, and in Eonta, a pianist plays a wild, computer
generated piano part while brass players circle round in a choreographed ritual, their sounds alternately
reverberating on its strings or calling into space.
£22, £18, £14, £11, £8
SOUND INTERMEDIA
SUN 9 OCT QEH 9.30PM
Xenakis La Légende d’Eer
HOW TO BOOK SERIES SAVINGS
La Légende d’Eer is Xenakis’s most impressive and ambitious tape piece, and has been hailed as a
masterpiece of electronic music. First created for performance in the Diatope, a red, organically shaped tent
designed by Xenakis for the space outside the Pompidou Centre, the work takes its title from Plato’s tale of
the hero who miraculously comes to life having been seemingly fatally wounded. Xenakis’s choice of subject
must surely echo his own experience of wartime survival in the face of terrible injuries.
£5
(not available online)
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