Xenakis, Iannis

[Beef Oven]

Under the 'et al' banner, currently getting my ears around this...... (first, the Stockhausen piece). Heard it years ago and filed it under 'WTF is this, will return later'.

[Bryn]

Under the 'et al' banner, currently getting my ears around this...... (first, the Stockhausen piece). Heard it years ago and filed it under 'WTF is this, will return later'.

A bit OT, but has anyone here checked out this most recent iteration of Tilbury's Petersham recording of Cage's Sonatas ans Interludes?



If so, have they now corrected the dodgy editing of Sonatas 10 and 11 which hit both the Japanese Decca release, and the more recent one on the 'explore' label?

[Serial_Apologist]

Under the 'et al' banner, currently getting my ears around this...... (first, the Stockhausen piece). Heard it years ago and filed it under 'WTF is this, will return later'.

Gruppen is grippin!

Next, try Kontakte, Beefy. It's undermined many people's prejudices about serialism!

[Beef Oven]

Gruppen is grippin!

Next, try Kontakte, Beefy. It's undermined many people's prejudices about serialism!

Cheers, I have just downloaded Kontakte. Will listen in due course

I am enjoying exploring this stuff

[Serial_Apologist]

Cheers, I have just downloaded Kontakte. Will listen in due course

Best experienced either through headphones - (sounds pass around inside your BRAIN!!!) - or flat on the floor, speakers placed on either side

[amateur51]

Best experienced either through headphones - (sounds pass around inside your BRAIN!!!) - or flat on the floor, speakers placed on either side

Flat?! Mr Alexander would not be impressed

[Bryn]

It was quite something to hear Gruppen from the Arena at the Proms just a few years ago. There is actually a surround sound recording of the work, but it is now very difficult to find:

Schönberg Ensemble, Asko Ensemble, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Slagwerkgroep Den Haag, cond. Reinbert de Leeuw, Oliver Knussen, Robert Spano. Recorded 3 September 1995. Released on SACD as disc 9 in the 27-disc CD/DVD set, Etcetera KTC9000

I was lucky enough to have sufficient funds available to get the set at the time of its release. Such a shame that the Gruppen SACD has not been released as a separate disc.

[Serial_Apologist]

Flat?! Mr Alexander would not be impressed

You are sharp today, Ams!

[Beef Oven]

Best experienced either through headphones - (sounds pass around inside your BRAIN!!!) - or flat on the floor, speakers placed on either side

Think I'll go for the headphones option first

[Beef Oven]

If anyone's interested, there are some really good BBC Radio 3 'Fifty Modern Classics' podcasts available that cover works like Per Norgaard Symphony #2, Stockhausen Gruppen, Varese Poeme Electronique, plus Ferneyhough, Nancarrow, Berio, Cage, Birtwistle et al.

I've listened to one or two and they are really interesting for novices/returners such as me.

[amateur51]

If anyone's interested, there are some really good BBC Radio 3 'Fifty Modern Classics' podcasts available that cover works like Per Norgaard Symphony #2, Stockhausen Gruppen, Varese Poeme Electronique, plus Ferneyhough, Nancarrow, Berio, Cage, Birtwistle et al.

I've listened to one or two and they are really interesting for novices/returners such as me.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio3/r3mc/rss.xml

[KipperKid]

Xenakis was always referred to as Romanian in the books and CD booklets, on account of being born and bred there. His parents were Greek of course.

Lately I have noticed that he is referred to as Greek.

Did he take up Greek citizenship? Has the Greek foreign office been on the lobby again?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

[Richard Barrett]

Xenakis was always referred to as Romanian in the books and CD booklets

If he was ever referred to as Romanian that would have been a mistake, although personally I don't recall him ever being referred to as such, let alone always. He never had Romanian citizenship and his family returned to Greece when he was ten years old.

[umslopogaas]

According to the sleeve notes with my Decca HEAD LP, he has been in exile in France since 1947 and was granted French citizenship in 1965 (the LP was issued in 1976).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Xenakis was always referred to as Romanian in the books and CD booklets, on account of being born and bred there. His parents were Greek of course.

Lately I have noticed that he is referred to as Greek.

Did he take up Greek citizenship? Has the Greek foreign office been on the lobby again?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

I don't think I've ever heard him called a Romanian, BeefKip, and a quick glance through four CD booklets shows three that don't mention his nationality and one that calls him "a Romanian-born Greek". I don't know when he moved from Roumania, but his education from the age of 10 was at a Greek boarding school, where (amongst other things) he learnt Shakespeare in English. As a young man, he fought for the Greek National Liberation Front against foreign (read "British") intervention in Greek domestic politics, so I think he probably thought of himself as Greek. The fascist junta that ruled Greece from 1947 - 74 certainly regarded him as one Greek, and sentenced him to death (in absentia) for his political activities.

I think "Xenakis" means "foreigner", so perhaps the family's roots were from outside Greece, but by the time we reach the composer, they'd been living in Greece for some generations.