On our blog, our contemporary composers present their favorite composer from our catalogs. This time: Alberto Posadas writes about Iannis Xenakis.

"I heard Xenakis’ music for the first time on the radio, I was a teenager at that time. I don’t remember precisely which orchestral work it was. However, I don’t forget the impact that it had on me. Since then, Xenakis became one of the composers that I regularly get back to, attracted by the boundless spirit that emanates from his music. Today, whenever I hear his music, the impact on me is still the same. And I keep wondering why.

His idea of formalized music is not only highly important for his own work, but also influenced a following generation of composers that also includes myself. Xenakis’ true “magic” discovery is the balance between the material and the process of musical construction.

The various techniques of construction that he uses in his works are very complex. On the one hand the materials are quite “primary”, which means that their definition is very direct and their perception very clear. On the other hand, the materials are very abstract, as they are imagined from a viewpoint of sound geometry rather than from a phraseological viewpoint.

Furthermore, we could regard his writing as “rough” – as rough as Goya’s strokes in the Pinturas negras, contrary to those in the paintings of Vermeer. But it’s precisely this “roughness” which enables the complex musical constructions to be translated in such a direct and enchanting way of listening.

I can’t stop to relate some of Goya’s paintings to the music of Xenakis. Obviously they are not related, neither technically nor aesthetically, but Goya’s canvases and Xenakis’ sound spaces both have certain “telluric” characteristics: an uncompromising intensity and overwhelming ambition.

The sound space is always important for the listing experience – this is especially true for the music of Xenakis. I think of fascinating pieces like Lichens, where the exuberance of sound really can’t be preserved in a recording. In Métaux (part of Pléïades) the sound vibrations can even be felt physically as a result of the microtonal sounds that are played by the sixeen, the instrument that Xenakis invented. These are only two examples.

In the end, listening to Xenakis‘ music is an adventure of intense experiences."

Alberto Posadas