We use cookies on our website to provide you with the best experience. Most of these are essential and already present.
We do require your explicit consent to save your cart and browsing history between visits. Read about cookies we use here.
Your cart and preferences will not be saved if you leave the site.

Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) was one of the leaders of modernism in music, a hugely influential composer, particularly in the later 1950s and 1960s, when he was experimenting with compositional techniques that soon entered the basic vocabulary of the twentieth-century avant garde. He formulated a theory of stochastic music in the early 1950s, co-founded the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in 1958, pioneered the use of computers to compose in 1961. 

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) was one of the leaders of modernism in music, a hugely influential composer, particularly in the later 1950s and 1960s, when he was experimenting with compositional techniques that soon entered the basic vocabulary of the twentieth-century avant garde. He formulated a theory of stochastic music in the early 1950s, co-founded the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in 1958, pioneered the use of computers to compose in 1961. 

Radio Cologne Sound Das Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDR
Biggest Tip possible! ** English/German edition. 288 pp + 5CD plenty of incredible music, most of which have never been heard before **  From the Wolke Verlag imprint, who've already brought us incredible books like Karl Berger's "The Music Mind Experience", "FMP Free Music Production - The Living Music", Peter Brötzmann's Along the Way, and George Lewis' "Composing While Black. Afrodiasporic New Music Today", to name only a few and a great many more - comes one of the most engrossing volumes we…
Persepolis
One of the milestones of electroacoustic music: Iannis Xenakis’ mindblowing 54-minutes oeuvre “Persepolis”, mixed from the original 8 track tapes by Martin Wurmnest“Persepolis” is the longest electroacoustic composition by Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) who ranks among the most influential 20th century avantgarde composers. Commissioned by the Persian Shah, the piece was part of a multimedia performance – Iannis Xenakis' so-called “polytopes” – which premiered in 1971 in Shiraz-Persepolis (Iran) as …
Diamorphoses / Concret Ph / Orient Occident / Bohor
Iannis Xenakis's early electroacoustic works define already the compositional space he is using later in his mature, almost one-hour long works like Persepolis or La Légende d'Er. After arriving in Paris as a Greek refuge in 1947, Xenakis quickly found a work as construction engineer with the architect Le Corbusier. He tried in vain for several years to become a member of the Groupe De Musique Concrète (GRM) and thus to gain access to the electroacoustic studios at the French radio. Pierre Schae…
Taurhiphanie / Voyage Absolu Des Unari Vers Andromède / Gendy 3 / S.709
Iannis Xenakis's late electroacoustic music became electronic: all sounds are synthetic "explicit computer music" as Peter Hoffmann called it. The music presented here shows Xenakis's way back from spatialized immersive music and multimedia spectacle to simple loudspeaker music. The sound does not move anymore, there are no synchronized visuals: nothing remains but structured noise. Xenakis used two inventions he had already presented in the context of the Polytopes: sounds created by stochastic…
La Legende D'Eer
Tip! Individual LP from the Electroacoustic Works boxset. The second release in the Perihel series is one of the most famous electroacoustic compositions by Iannis Xenakis. When Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), who had fought against the occupation as part of the communist resistance, moved to Paris in 1947 it was the start of a highly creative and impressive career. Xenakis not only studied composition with Olivier Messiaen and became one of the most innovative composers of the 20th century, he also…
Hibiki Hana-Ma / Mycenae Alpha / Polytope De Cluny
*Restocked, reduced price* "Hibiki Hana-Ma" was created in 1969 for the Steel Pavilion of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation at the Expo 1970 in Osaka as musical part of a multimedia show. Even though the work does not bear the designation in its title, it can be already regarded as a Polytope: it was created for a specific architectural location, lasers and mirrors have been installed: a light choreography by the Japanese artist Keiji Usami accompanied the spectacle. This concept of synchroniz…
Palimpsest | Épéi | Dikhthas | Akanthos
*2022 stock* '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 un…
Electroacoustic Works
5 CD box set.  „Electroacoustic Works“ celebrates the 100th anniversary of Iannis Xanakis (on May 29th, 2022), one of the most influential 20th century avantgarde composers. For the first time, the complete electroacoustic works of Xenakis are now available on record! All tracks have been newly mixed by longtime zeitkratzer sound engineer Martin Wurmnest and mastered by Rashad Becker and finally reveal their full sonic range and dynamics. Booklet with English / German liner notes by R. Friedl (z…
Memory in Motion: Percussion in Surround
“Memory in Motion: Percussion in Surround” was a research project developed to examine how percussionists memorize musical actions within ensembles. As part of this research, director Aiyun Huang commissioned new works to compliment selected existing repertoire. Zihua Tan wrote Sorites to compliment Iannis Xenakis’ Persephassa and Alcides Lanza wrote mnais mnemes to compliment his own earlier composition sensor VI. In both cases, the composers were asked to use the identical setup and notational…
Complete String Quartets
The first complete recording of Xenakis’ string quartets.  The first new recording of Xenakis’ first three quartets since 1994.  The only available recording of Xenakis’ last quartet, “Ergma”, from 1994.  The first commercial release by the JACK Quartet, a young New York/Boston based group that has been garnering high praise for their performances of complex and challenging new music. The members of the quartet met while attending the Eastman School of Music, New York. The quartet has since stud…
Electronic Works 2 - Hibiki Hana Ma; Polytope De Cluny
This volume collects two of Iannis Xenakis’ multi-channel works from the 1970s, along with a long-lost film soundtrack (on the DVD only). Restored from the best quality source materials.  A new high-resolution transfer was created from the original analog master tape for Polytope De Cluny.  Hibiki Hana Ma has been restored from the multi-track digital masters. (This is audio only on the DVD).  Hibiki Hana Ma was created for the Expo 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka, Japan, where it was experienced by …
An Anthology of Greek Experimental Electronic Music
**Double-CD version includes 20-page booklet. Sold out at source** An Anthology of Greek Experimental Electronic Music 1966-2016 aspires to map the heterogenous landscape of Greek experimental electronic music in all its contextual, sociopolitical, geographical and aesthetic disparity. With a single exception: it zeroes in on post-80s music. It comprises works of very different kinds by composers of all sorts of backgrounds that, still, can be thought of, as both "Greeks" and "experimentalists".…
GRM Works 1957-1962
2020 repress, originally released in 2013. Recollection GRM assembles Greek experimental composer Iannis Xenakis' works for Groupe de Recherches Musicales circa 1957-1962. "Concret PH" (1958) was assembled for the Brussels World Fair. The industrialist Philips commissioned Le Corbusier's famous "Philips Pavilion": "I'll create an electronic poem for you, he said. Everything will happen inside: sound, light, color, and rhythm." Iannis Xenakis designed the architectural blueprint and composed "Con…
Electronic music
Jeanne Dielman presents a reissue of a collection of Iannis Xenakis's work titled Electronic Music, originally released in 1997. Some of the earliest works from a truly groundbreaking composer in the realms of electronic music, musique concrete, electro-acoustic, 20th century classical, and more. The Romanian-born, Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis was instrumental in the introduction of mathematical models into composition and helped revolutionize electronic music in the middle 20th century.…
Interpreta Obras De Xenakis, Taïra Y Lewin-Richter
**warehouse find, still sealed original copies**More early 80's action from the Hemisferio label, this time centered on contemporany percussion pieces. Secuencia I  for percussion and magnetic tape, was comissioned by Josef Anton Riedl for the Munich Olympic Games (1972) and was originally previewed on that event by Michael Ranta. Cover is a painting by E.Fontecilla.
Xenakis Edition 15, Orchestral Works
**CD Edition** Metastaseis A (first recording), Orchestra Sinfonica RAI; Terretektorh for 88 musicians dispersed among the public; Nomos Gamma for 98 musicians dispersed among the public — Residentie Orkest The Hague, Arturo Tamayo, conductor.
Le depassement de soi
'Linaia-Agon' (1972) for trombone, French horn & tuba. 2 performances, studio & live, with Benny Sluchin, Jens McManama, Jérémie Dufourt and Arnaud Boukhitine. 'Zythos' (1996) for trombone & 6 marimbas. Benny Sluchin, with red fish blue fish conducted by Steven Schick. First video & surround release. The documents on this DVD present a musical journey through a wide range of topics focused on Iannis Xenakis and his work Linaia Agon. Conceived by the great new music trombonist Benny Sluchin, it i…
Ensemble Works 3
'Palimpsest' (1979) for piano & ensemble. Cory Smythe, piano. 'Echange' (1989) for bass-clarinet & ensemble. Joshua Rubin, bass-clarinet. 'Akanthos' (1977) for soprano & ensemble. Tony Arnold, soprano. 'Thalleïn' (1984) for 16 instruments. 'O-Mega' (1997) for percussion & ensemble. Steven Schick, percussion & conductor. Steven Schick, conductor. 'Zythos' (1996) for trombone & 6 marimbas. Benny Sluchin, trombone.  An exhilarating Xenakis progran, built around works for soloist and ensemble. Most…
Inventionen VII: 30 jahre inventionen 1982 - 2012
* Five hours of electroacoustical compositions, recorded during the first thirty years of the Berlin festival “Inventionen”. Box set with two audio CDs and a multichannel (surroundsound) DVD * Mindblowing two re-releases of Edition RZ LPs that are now available in this double CD box with additional tracks, as well as a mainly acousmatic DVD that features electronic tracks by a variety of electroacoustic composers. The present DVD contains mainly acousmatic music. This is when a pure "tape piece"…
Works With Piano - Eonta
Pianist Aki Takahashi’s follows up her acclaimed first disc of Xenakis piano works (which won a "Diapason d’or" in France) with this second volume, of works for piano with instruments. She is joined by an all-star cast of players: Rohan de Saram (formerly of the Arditti Quartet), The JACK Quartet, and the Callithumpian Consort conducted by Stephen Drury. All works are underrepresented in current recordings or difficult to find at all. Included is the first new recording in over 10 years o…
1 2 3