Iannis Xenakis- Mists (1/2)

One of Xenakis' five solo piano pieces, here is "Mists", which is probably the least-performed of the three major pieces, which includes "Herma"- Musique Symbolique (which happens to be my favorite piano piece of all time) and Evryali. Aesthetically, one might almost call this piece a juxtaposition of Herma and Evryali; chaos splattered across a fairly rigid framework, interspersed with little flurries of aggravation. It's not as technically monstrous as either of those two pieces, luckily, so I just don't understand why it's not performed as much. Personally, I prefer it over Evryali, which I find very interesting academically but somewhat lacking in musical substance. The excerpt you see is in fact from this piece.


Iannis Xenakis
Mists for Solo Piano, 1981
Aki Takahashi performs

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Xenakis
• Piano
• Mists
• Takahashi
• Herma
• Evryali

[John11inch]

Xenakis is hated on because comparatively uncultured people have nothing better to do with their days than convince themselves that vindicating their misunderstanding of him by superficially, and with malicious ignorance and, typically, a pointed lack of wit or insight, dismissing his work makes them worthy of not having to understand it and/or that ego-auto-fellatio they do seem to love.

[andrewcomplainer]

ontos man.

alla vazoune sti sxolh mousikologias ergasia na grapsoune ergasia gia enan tupa pou pira kapoious mathimatikous tupous k orise apo monos tou oti ekei pano tha paixoun autes oi netes k axies.

dn einai kati dimiourgiko oute kati diskolo na to kanei kapoios,

an ego grapso mousikh me diafora xronou kathe pote xezw dn simenei oti prepei na to kanoun ergasies se panepistimia.

[tolisssss]

@andrewcomplainer wraios!! symfwnw... ki egw an pataw sthn tyxh notes sto piano mou de shmainei pws kanw mousikh.... atonikh mousikh kai paparies... exei ksefygei o kosmos kai to xei dei kai poly koultoura milame... se ligo 8a kanoume pinakes me ena kouva mpogia kai ta ypoloipa 8a axnofainontai!!!!

[John11inch]

@stokepogue

If people shouldn't care about what other people think, then you shouldn't be bothering to comment.

[stokepogue]

@John11inch Don't turn his work into a political party. Who cares what others think.

[Igneous01]

I think ive understood how to approach this kind of music now, and now it seems pleasant to listen to.

[705JRC]

@YoYoHall And by "what WE listen for in MUSIC" you mean "what the establishment thinks of traditional tonal Western music." Obviously how one listens to this is not the same as how one listens to Beethoven. How boring to think there is only one way to listen to all music, and if other music doesn't fit your narrow parameters of "listenable," it's suddenly a threat... stop trolling around and go listen to your Bach.

[sonic777111]

Every piece of modern music I look up has these comment wars...

[John11inch]

@YoYoHall

Oh really? A paper? As in one paper? Don't you think that there have been *many* papers stating such? And *many* papers stating the opposite? The fact that one paper says something doesn't mean anything at all.

[YoYoHall]

@John11inch Actually there was a paper written on how atonal music actively undermines what we listen for in music.

[painkiller901901]

auto mono san mousikh den tha mporousa na to xaraktirisw. alla ti perimeneis apo ena brwmokoummouni. oi aristeres idees tou xenaki kai pollwn allwn exoun ftasei tin patrida mas ekei pou einai simera. a re stellara gt mas afises toso nwris