For his 100th birthday, Flotation Device salutes the iconic composer, engineer and refugee Iannis Xenakis. Join us as we contemplate his impact on sonorism, on electronic and percussion music, and on drone, noise, and dark ambient music—everything from Ligeti to Radigue, Japanoise and Lou Reed. We’re aided by new offerings from Steve Layton, Christopher Fox, Gordon Grdina and Márton Illés. And our podcast emphasizes how Xenakis's early masterpieces used Varèse as their starting point, whereas his later music sounded more and more like that of his teacher Messiaen. We also enjoy several items from Karlrecords' new remastered compilation of Xenakis's electroacoustic works, featuring some impressively enhanced bass definition.
Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and beyond with host Michael Schell. Annotated playlist and photo credits with Comments.
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Flotation Device 2022-05-29: annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001) at 100 [0:00]
1. [1:33] Gordon Grdina's Square Peg: Escherian. From Klotski (Attaboygirl, 2021) with Gordon Grdina (electric guitar), Mat Maneri (viola), Shahzad Ismaily (bass, Moog), Christian Lillinger (drums), John Raham (recording engineer)
2. [7:57] Iannis Xenakis: Pithoprakta for 49 musicians. From Orchestral Works, Volume 5 (Timpani, 2008) with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Arturo Tamayo (conductor), Jeannot Mersch (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1956⠀
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SET 2: Xenakis, Varèse, noise and dark ambient [18:36]
1. [22:02] Iannis Xenakis: Concret PH. From Electroacoustic Works (Karlrecords, 2022) with Martin Wurmnest, Rashad Becker (remastering). NOTE: Realized 1958
2. [24:38] Iannis Xenakis: Orient-Occident. From Electroacoustic Works (as above). NOTE: Realized 1961
3. [35:51] Iannis Xenakis: Akrata. From Masterworks of the 20th Century (Sony, 2015) with Festival Chamber Ensemble, Richard Dufallo. NOTE: Composed 1964–65, recorded July 1968
4. [47:51] Éliane Radigue: Geelriandre (excerpt). From Geelriandre/Arthesis (Fringes Recordings, 2003, reissued 2018 by INA-GRM as Œuvres électroniques) with Éliane Radigue (ARP 2500 Synthesizer on magnetic tape), Gérard Fremy (prepared piano). NOTE: Tape part realized 1972. Premiered May 29, 1972 at Théâtre de la Musique, Paris. Recorded live December 1979 at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
5. [52:08] Lou Reed: Metal Machine Music, Pt. 1 (excerpt). From Metal Machine Music (RCA, 1975)
6. [53:49] Outro with Iannis Xenakis: Bohor
7. [59:01] Iannis Xenakis: Psappha. From 20th Century Percussion Solos (Métier, 2019) with Mathias Reumert (percussion)⠀
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SET 3: Music of the living [1:12:12]
1. [1:13:50] Márton Illés: Three watercolors for accordion, piano and string trio - 1. From Watercolors and Psychograms (Kairos, 2022) with Ensemble Recherche: Nejc Grm (accordion), Melise Mellinger (violin), Åsa Åkerberg (cello), Klaus Steffes-Holländer (piano), Roland Rublé (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2016–20
2. [1:15:16] Márton Illés: Three watercolors for accordion, piano and string trio - 2. From Watercolors and Psychograms (credits as above)
3. [1:19:4] Gordon Grdina: The Chase. From Pendulum (Attaboygirl, 2021) with Gordon Grdina (oud), John Raham (recording engineer)
4. [1:26:36] Christopher Fox: Idaho. From Hieroglyphs (ezz-thetics, 2022) with Yael Barolsky (violin), Dan Weinstein (cello), Ido Akov (piano)⠀
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SET 4: Xenakis and Messiaen [1:31:36]
1. [1:34:19] Steve Layton: Ohambrae. From Pandemic 9: Greening (NiwoSound, 2022) with Steve Layton (Reason 12, Audacity)
2. [1:41:08] Iannis Xenakis: Empreintes. From Orchestral Works, Volume 1 (Timpani, 2000) with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Arturo Tamayo (conductor), Jeannot Mersch (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1975
3. [1:51:35] Outro with Olivier Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles
Photo credits: Xenakis and Olivier Messiaen by Mâkhi Xenakis, Christopher Fox via the artist, Iannis Xenakis via Les Amis de Xenakis, Éliane Radigue in Eléonore Huisse/François J. Bonnet: Échos, Xenakis: sketch for Pithoprakta, Steve Layton via the artist, Lou Reed by Jean-Baptiste Modino, Square Peg (Shahzad Ismaily, Gordon Grdina, Christian Lillinger, Mat Maneri) by Jamie Leigh Gonzalez, Márton Illés via the artist.