Iannis XenakisFeaturing: Xenakis Ensemble
Palimpsest / Phlegra / Epeï / Dmaathen (LP)
FormatLPLabelNieuwe MuziekGenreComposition
Out of stock
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condition (record/cover): NM / NM 20-page booklet included. Palimpsest / Phlegra / Epeï / Dmaathen on Nieuwe Muziek, Dutch label specializing in contemporary music, offers Iannis Xenakis in four different declinations. The palimpsest of the first title is the medieval one: parchment scraped and rewritten, traces of previous text showing through beneath the new. Xenakis treats musical memory the same way, layers superimposing without ever fully erasing each other.
Phlegra evokes the Phlegraean Fields, that volcanic zone near Naples where the Greeks located the entrance to the Underworld. Epeï means "words" in Greek, but words here are absent, replaced by instrumental gestures that communicate without semantics. Dmaathen is an invented term, neologism that Xenakis never bothered to explain. The obscurity was deliberate.
The Dutch label testifies to the European network sustaining this music: festivals, specialized ensembles, a circuit parallel to the mainstream that allowed composers like Xenakis to keep producing even when general audiences showed scant interest. Nieuwe Muziek documented what posterity would judge essential, betting on history against the market.
Format
Recorded in the presence of the composer Iannis Xenakis, Paris
Production Nieuwe Muziek, Middelburg, June 1986
Comes with a 20 pp. booklet
Release notes
Recorded in the presence of the composer Iannis Xenakis, Paris Production Nieuwe Muziek, Middelburg, June 1986 Comes with a 20 pp. booklet
| A1 | Palimpsest | 10:55 | |
| A2 | Phlegra | 13:40 | |
| B1 | Epeï | 13:16 | |
| B2 | Dmaathen | 12:02 |
- John Anderson
- Bass Clarinet, Clarinet (A1, A2, B1)
- Chris Bestley
- Bassoon (A1, A2)
- Tadashi Tanaka
- Cello (A1, A2)
- Huub Kerstens
- Conductor
- Thom De Ligt
- Double Bass (A1, A2, B1)
- Machiko Takahashi
- Flute (A2)
- Hans Dullaert
- Horn (A1)
- Piet Dombrecht
- Horn (A1)
- Frank Van Koten
- Oboe (A1, A2, B1, B2)
- Johan Faber
- Percussion (A1, B2)
- Aki Takahashi
- Piano (A1)
- Leo Verheyen
- Trombone (B1)
- Peter Van Klink
- Trombone (B1)
- Willie Verdievel
- Trombone (A2)
- Jorge Coppé
- Trumpet (A2)
- Wim Van Vliet
- Trumpet (B1)
- Ben Joles
- Viola (A1, A2)
- Mifune Tsuji
- Violin (A1, A2)
- Nico Brandon
- Violin (A1)
