Xenakis: Palimpsest; Thallein; Échange; Akanthos, etc – review

“This collection of ensemble works, six altogether, ranges across the last two decades of Iannis Xenakis‘s life. It includes the last two pieces he composed, Zythos, for trombone and six marimbas, and O-Mega, for percussion and ensemble, both written in 1997, four years before his death. They are striking, small-scale examples of the bareness and drastic compression of his late style, but the finest music here is a bit earlier. In Échange, from 1989, a bass clarinet painstakingly unfolds its melodic line over a curdled, increasingly assertive wind ensemble, while Palimpsest imposes a layer of ensemble writing over the top of a solo piano and increasingly excitable percussion in a way that leads inevitably to an explosive confrontation. Best of all, there’s Thallein from 1984; it’s one of the finest of Xenakis’s later works, and as a good an example as any of the visceral strengths of his unique achievement, in which sound seems to be moulded like molten metal and and propelled with sometimes frightening rhythmic intensity. The performances under Steven Schick don’t squander any of that power.” -Andrew Clements, The Guardian 

Originally published February 20, 2014; full text available here.