Iannis Xenakis was, in the 1960s and 1970s, like Karlheinz Stockhausen, a symbol of musical modernity. For the year of its centenary, the commemorations, on this side of the Atlantic at least, are rather discreet.
What is the legacy of this composer? The duty discussed it with Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet, musicologist, professor at the Faculty of Music of the University of Strasbourg and specialist in Xenakis.
Composer, architect and engineer of Greek origin, born in Romania and naturalized French, Iannis Xenakis distills an aura of mystery, if only through the enigmatic titles of his compositions — Pithoprakta, Terretektorh, Persephassa, Kraanerg…
The image that remains of him is that of a musician who introduced mathematics into the composition process. Appeared from Metastasis, in 1954, this discipline was theorized with “stochastic” music two years later. The music becomes structured according to laws of probabilities which relate to the heights of notes, the glissandos, the durations. Xenakis is also recognized, particularly in Montreal, through its Polytopeinstallation presented at Expo 67, for his work on music and space.
Should we be surprised to hear almost no more works by Xenakis in concert? Was his production experimental? What is its permanent part?
Striking example
A part of Xenakis’ production undoubtedly resists the test of time: his music for percussion, inspired by Sylvio Gualda, for the solo works, and by the Percussions de Strasbourg.
“In conservatories around the world, young percussionists graduate with Bounces A and Bwhich are not necessarily the most successful compositions, or Psappha, a true masterpiece”, summarizes Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet. At the same time, “all the works for solo percussion ensembles were commissioned for the Percussions de Strasbourg: Persephassa (1969), Pleiadesballet music (1979) and Idmen A and B (1985). » These surprisingly long compositions (30 minutes for Persephassa45 minutes for Pleiades) are emblematic of the repertoire.
Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet breaks down the prejudice of a necessarily arid Xenakis: “Some music is easy to access. In rushes, there is a melody at the beginning; everyone goes in. Within the orchestral music of small format, style Intercontemporary Ensemble, London Sinfonietta or New Modern Ensemble, there are also very beautiful accessible compositions. »
With regard to symphonic formations, the issue, according to our interlocutor, concerns the establishment and dissemination of what could be called the classics of the XXe century. “The question arises for the entire avant-garde of the second half of the XXe century — Boulez, Stockhausen, Berio and Ligeti — which crosses a gray zone. ” If we have not seen many Xenakis scheduled in North America in 2022, Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet considers that the commemorations in Europe have been ” decent “, but wonders ” what will give the Ligeti centenary in 2023 and the Berio and Boulez centenarians in 2025″, considering that “in contemporary music festivals, there is a race for creation, because there have never been so many composition classes and young composers, whereas symphony orchestras do not include Xenakis Boulez, Berio and Ligeti in their seasons”.
Diffusion brakes
If the orchestras are cautious, it is certainly for fear of a lack of curiosity of the public. “When the famous cellist Sol Gabetta came to Strasbourg, the room was half empty. She had planned the Concerto of Lutoslawski”, remarks Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet.
But Xenakis can be associated with star composers. “From the late 1970s to the 1990s [Xenakis est mort en 2001], the format of orchestral compositions requires 90 musicians, and these are often pieces of 15 to 20 minutes. We can therefore very well associate rushes to a Mahler symphony, or integrate it into a three-part program with a Sibelius symphony. »
That said, the complexity of the music requires a preparation time that is often incompatible with the schedules of orchestras on our continent. “It’s true that it requires more work, especially since several compositions treat the orchestra as a group of soloists. The first great work for orchestra of soloists is thus Metastasis (1954), where each of the 12 first violins, 12 second violins, 10 violas, 6 cellos and 4 double basses has its own part, with quarter tones and glissandos. »
You have to see that Xenakis received five to six orders a year. You can’t have a composition process, where you do a lot of research with lots of calculations for hours, when you have to honor so many orders a year. And the strength of Xenakis compared to other composers […] was honoring his orders.
There is however, according to Professor Barthel-Calvet, who highlights rushes, Metastasis and Nekuia (a score for choir and orchestra) as the three works to be played in priority, certain blinders explaining the current reluctance towards Xenakis. She wants proof of this in the fact that in the context of the Xenakis exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris and the concerts given in parallel “the Xenakis who shocked in the 1950s and 1960s were highlighted”.
The musicologist noted, for example, that the most recent instrumental music in the exhibition dates from the early 1970s. However, in her eyes, “everything that comes after is more accessible, with more harmonic work”. Would there have been a break between a period of research and a period of “covered research”?
“You have to see that Xenakis received five to six orders a year. You can’t have a composition process, where you do lots of research and calculations for hours, when you have to fulfill so many orders a year. And the strength of Xenakis compared to other composers, Dutilleux for example, was to honor his orders. It was therefore necessary to have processes that go quickly. “Second factor, “in 1972, Maurice Fleuret and Henry-Louis de La Grange took Xenakis with Betsy Jolas and Takemitsu to Bali. It was a shock, not just for the Balinese scales or the sets of gamelans, but for the possibilities of harmonic ratios. He began to wonder about constructions. He was not the only one: Stockhausen and Ligeti followed the same path at the time, but he began to compose differently, and as he explained in an interview: “By dint of making stochastic music with calculations, I could very well write a stochastic without having to do the calculation first!” »
All this is not well enough known, according to Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet. “If we go back to the orchestral repertoire, you have to know that there are magnificent, extraordinary scores that have never been played: Koiranoi (1995), premiered on Hamburg radio, only exists in the radio archives”, underlines the specialist of the composer, who judges that the exploration of this late Xenakis would be a mine for conductors and directors. bold arts.
Xenakis and Quebec
The history of Xenakis in Quebec is linked to Expo 67 and the French pavilion of Jean Faugeron. “Xenakis was in the game, because he had been noticed at the Royan festival with Terretektorh, a work in which the orchestra is arranged in a circle with the audience in the middle. We asked Xenakis to do a kind of Terretektorh in the pavilion,” says Ms.me Barthel Calvet.
As it was impossible to mobilize an orchestra, another solution had to be found. “Initially, the idea was an object suspended in the large atrium onto which images would have been projected, a sort of remake of the Philips pavilion at Expo 58, in Brussels, the Le Corbusier pavilion, in which Xenakis had collaborated. ” When Xenakis went there, ” he proposed networks of cables stretched in the hollow of the atrium to which he was going to hang white or colored flashes. Recorded orchestral music was played every two hours from four loudspeakers downstairs. »
The simultaneous triggering of the music and the light show in the pavilion was called Montreal Polytope. Thereafter, “the show itself was no longer operational, but the cables, a cone-shaped architecture, remained in place until it became a casino in the early 1990s. construction of escalators, the installation of Xenakis was dismantled and apparently, no one found fault with it, neither in Quebec nor in France, just as no one warned Xenakis, who was still alive. »
Anne-Sylvie Barthel-Calvet tried to find out what happened to the Polytope during his research for the writing of a work to be published on the composer. Without success.