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Iannis Xenakis
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Iannis Xenakis was badly wounded in the Greek Resistance and fled to Paris in 1947, where he went to work as an engineer for the architect Le Corbusier. He attended Messiaen's classes and began to calculate music with mathematics, probability theory and architecture. In Metastaseis from 1954, forty-six strings each glide separately up and down, in a cloud of sound that he drew as a graph. The same curved lines return in the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 World's Fair.
Listening
Listening tip. Listen to the beginning of Metastaseis and hear how all the strings start on one note and then each glide off in their own direction, until a broad cloud of sound forms.
Metastaseis (SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, Hans Rosbaud) · Iannis Xenakis, 1954
Psappha (Steven Schick) · Iannis Xenakis, 1975
Pléiades: Mélanges (Les Percussions de Strasbourg) · Iannis Xenakis, 1978- Metastaseis (SWF-Sinfonieorchester, Hans Rosbaud) · Iannis Xenakis, 1954
Discography
Studio albums
- 1965Metastasis / Pithoprakta / Eonta
- 1969Syrmos / Polytope / Medea
- 1970Electro-Acoustic Music
- 1971Persephassa
- 1972Persepolis
- 1976Synaphai / Aroura / Antikhthon
- 1976Xenakis: Evryali / Herma / Messiaen: Quatre études de rythme
- 1983Cendrées / Jonchaies / Nomos gamma
- 1983ST/4 / Dikhthas / Ikhoor / Embellie / Kottos / Mikka / Mikka S
- 1984Messiaen: Cinq Rechants / Xenakis: Nuits
- 1985Die 12 Cellisten der Berliner Philharmoniker Vol. 1
- 1986Contemporary Piano Music
- 1987Pléïades
- 1987The Fantastic Harpsichord
- 1988Nørgård: I Ching / Xenakis: Psappha / Gudmundsen-Holmgreen: Triptykon
- 1989Kraanerg
- 1989Xenakis: Pléiades / Ishii: Concertante
- 1990Naama / À l'île de Gorée / Khoaï / Komboï
- 1990Oresteïa
- 1990Palimpsest / Épéi / Dikhthas / Akanthos
- 1990Pléiades / Psappha
- 1992Idmen / Pléïades
- 1992Phlegra / Jalons / Keren / Nomos Alpha / Thalleïn
- 1994Aïs / Gendy 3 / Taurhiphanie / Thalleïn
- 1994Œuvres pour quatuor à cordes et trio de percussions
- 1995Brant / Scelsi / Wolpe / Xenakis / Cage / Glass / Feldman
- 1995La Légende d’Eer
- 1996Ensemble Music 1
- 1997Kraanerg
- 1997Xenakis & Varèse
- 1998Medea / Nuits / Knephas / Serment / A Colone
- 1999Pupils of Messiaen: A Cappella Works by Messiaen, Stockhausen and Xenakis
- 1999Rebonds and other Works for Percussion
- 1999To the Earth
- 1999Works for Piano
- 2000Orchestral Works, Vol. I
- 2000Psappha / Okho / Perséphassa
- 2001Hammered Brass
- 2001Musique Electro-Acoustique
- 2001Mysterious Morning
- 2001Nuits – weiß wie Lilien
- 2001Orchestral Works Vol. II
- 2002Orchestral Works Vol. III
- 2003Anastenaria / Troorkh / Aïs
- 2003Iannis Xenakis
- 2003Kraanerg
- 2004Orchestral Works Vol. IV
- 2005La Légende d’Eer
- 2005Music for Strings
- 2005Psappha / Rebonds A & B / Okho pour trois djembés
- 2006Ensemble Music 2
- 2006Orchestral Works Vol. 5
- 2006Percussion Works
- 2007Dedicated to Christian Lindberg
- 2008Electronic Works 2: Hibiki Hana Ma / Polytope de Cluny
- 2008Kraanerg
- 2008Music for Keyboard Instruments Realised by Computer
- 2009Complete String Quartets
- 2009Phantasy of Spring
- 2010Miroirs pour percussions
- 2010Works With Piano
- 2011Complete Cello Works
- 2012Ligeti / Pintscher / Cage / Xenakis
- 2012Zyia / Six chansons grecques / Psappha / Persephassa
- 2013Complete Works for Cello Solo
- 2013Synaphaï
- 2015IX
- 2015L'Œuvre pour piano
- 2016La Légende d’Eer
- 2017Orchestral Works: Metastaseis A / Terretektorh / Nomos Gamma
- 2018Isao Nakamura Plays Works for Solo Percussion
- 2019Pléïades
- 2021Pléiades et Persephassa
- 2022Diamorphoses / Concret PH / Orient Occident / Bohor
- 2022Hibiki Hana-Ma / Mycenae Alpha / Polytope de Cluny
- 2022Taurhiphanie / Voyage Absolu Des Unari Vers Andromède / Gendy 3 / S.709
- 2023Eonta
- 2023Harpsichord Works
- 2023Iannis Xenakis / James Dillon / Liza Lim
- 2025Pas de deux
- 2026Bohor / Orient Occident
- ?Terretektorh / Nomos Gamma
Mentioned in other articles
- Sound masses: Xenakis, Ligeti and Penderecki Genre
Iannis Xenakis, an architect with Le Corbusier, calculated the gliding strings of Metastaseis with mathematics; the piece was premiered in Donaueschingen in 1955.