Full of challenges, from the pioneering mathematical influences, to unusual notation and virtuosic performance requirements, many classify Xenakis' compositions as unplayable, but KUNIKO's unrivalled prowess sees her perfectly realise the composer's vision. Pléïades explores a rich variety of percussive sounds and textures; marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, xylo-marimba and drums create a sound world of rhythmic complexity and vibrant colours. Uniquely, Pléïades also requires a SIXXEN, an instrument designed by Xenakis and customised by KUNIKO, who hand-selected 120 metal bars to craft the perfect sound.

Since becoming a percussion soloist, Rebonds is a piece that KUNIKO has been playing and performing throughout her entire career. After hearing this performance of Xenakis' popular piece, renowned percussionist Sylvio Gualda congratulated KUNIKO on her ‘marvellous' interpretation.

This DVD marks the first complete recording of Xenakis' four string quartet, including the late quartet Ergma.

The orchestral works on this recording include two of Xenakis’ adventurous spatialized works along with Metastaseis, the work with which he emerged onto the international avant-garde scene. Metastaseis A is the original version, which is better known by its revision, Metastaseis B. The revision was the result of conductor Hermann Scherchen, who was critical of the size of the score and of elements of its instrumentation. He agreed to perform it if certain revisions were made. Ultimately, the première of the revised version, Metastaseis B, would be conducted by Hans Rosbaud at Donaueschingen in 1955, where it created a sensation. The public would have to wait until after the composer’s death before hearing the original version of Metastaseis A, which took place in 2008 in Torino under the direction of Arturo Tamayo, who conducts the work in this recording, its first commercial release. Xenakis explained that the sound world of Metastaseis was inspired by his experiences as a member of the student Resistance during the Nazi occupation of Greece. In Nomos Gamma, the listener is struck by the increased size of the percussion section, which rings the orchestra and audience, lending a kind of ritual brutality to the piece.

Mode continues it's Xenakis Edition with the second volume dedicated to his electronic works.

Pianist Aki Takahashi follows up her acclaimed first disc of Xenakis piano works with this second volume, this time works for piano with instruments.

Classical Music

Classical Music

This DVD features interviews with various Iannis Xenakis experts such as Gerard Pape and James Harley, as well as his widow, Francoise Xenakis. This is the first DVD release of one of Xenakis' best known works, Kraanerg.

Classical Music

Iannis Xenakis invented his own instruments for Les Pléiades, a suggestive, interstellar work for percussion ensemble. And once again the Ensemble DeciBells commissioned their very own grandiose musical instruments for their outstanding recording of this work. The musicians led by Basel solo timpanist Domenico Melchiorre play the shimmering music, which fuses the boundaries between individual instrument, ensemble, and listener on a dizzying scale: subtle and yet with nerve! Percussion ensemble DeciBells is closely associated with new music, and regularly works on projects with contemporary composers. The ensemble’s roots are in Basel, however, concert tours have taken them to Asia and throughout Europe. DeciBells is Adrian Romaniuc, David Gurtner, Robin Fourmeau, Sakiko Yasui, Szilard Buti, Till Lingenberg, and Domenico Melchiorre.

Classical Music

Despite the complexities within the compositions, and also the rigorous demands they make on performers, the impact of Xenakis's music on the listener is always direct. The music is still alive with "the whole agony of my youth and the Resistance", but there is an increasing richness of expression, a spirit of exuberance and exhilaration, a new romanticism, what seems to be a celebration of the sheer joy of music by a composer at the height of his powers and in full command of his medium, his destiny. This production received the quarterly German Record Critics' Award. Spectrum / Guy Protheroe: conductor / Irvine Arditti: violin / Claude Helffer: piano / Penelope Walmsley-Clark: soprano.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Steven Schick conducting the International Contemporary Ensemble. Additional musicians: Tony Arnold, soprano, Joshua Rubin, bass clarinet, Cory Smythe, piano.

Throughout Xenakis's career, and particularly during the twenty-year span covered here, his music was influenced tremendously by aesthetic choices, rather than being governed by architectural or mathematical computations. As the composer himself stated, "What I did was a matter of feeling, rather than a purely logical approach. ... It was the sound itself that absorbed my attention. ... Even if I wrote a predetermined piece, it could have parts that did not follow the exact theoretical path, but which depended more on the acoustical result. This freedom was much more interesting and important for me." - Iannis Xenakis

Xenakis' freedom of expression, his innate musicality, is what emerges above all else on this recording." - from the liner notes by Steven Schick, Benny Sluchin, and Kivie Cahn-Lipman.