Description
IANNIS XENAKIS: ANASTENARIA (CD)
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Christoph Adt
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks / Charles Zacharie Bornstein / Peter Rundel / Michel Tabachnik
Trombone – Mike Svoboda
Baritone – Spyros Sakkas
Percussion – Sylvio Gualda
“The baffling range revealed in the creative work of Iannis Xenakis has one fixed point so characteristic of his music: it is deeply rooted in the myths of the Greek and in other archaic structures. Despite the mathematically constructed structures of his pieces, his music always retains its authentic, earthy originality. Procession aux eaux claires, the first part of the Anastenaria, originally intended to be tripartite, is concerned with processions of various priests and members of their village communities who recite prayers together and perform certain rites. The second part, which portrays the blessing of the holy bulls, however, is not followed by a musical rendition of the climactic event of the ritual, the sacrifice of the beasts. This omission is intentional. Xenakis chose an entirely different piece, Metastaseis, as the end of the cycle, “because,” as he once said, “it was such a great [compositional] step forward.” In his trombone concerto Troorkh, Xenakis mostly uses glissandi and particular intervals, with the quint and tritone being used most often. Aïs, the last piece on the present recording, forcefully traces original Greek mythology in texts by Homer and Sappho.”
CONTENT
1. Anastenaria: Procession aux eaux claires, for orchestra and mixed choir
2. Anastenaria: Le Sacrifice, for orchestra
3. Anastenaria: Metastaseis, for orchestra
4. Troorkh: for trombone & large orchestra
5. Aïs: for baritone, percussion solo & orchestra
