Iannis Xenakis - Embellie

Embellie, for solo viola (1981)

Garth Knox, viola

Iannis Xenakis achieved early notoriety for his novel orchestral textures featuring the strings. These included massive musical sculptures of sliding tones, huge clouds of pluckings and knockings, teemingly dense complexes of different sounds, and so on. Whatever one might have said about this composer, one would have had to admit that he loved using the strings. By 1981, Xenakis had written pieces for orchestral strings, smaller groups of strings, and solos for every instrument of the string family. The last one to be written was Embellie, for viola. The title means "lull in the storm," and indeed, there is an element of restraint in this piece that serves as an antidote to the large-scale pieces surrounding it, such as Aïs (1980) or Nekuïa (1981), both for voices and orchestra and both concerned with death.

Embellie at times sounds like Bach, and there is a modal flavor to the music that evokes exotic cultures as well. Xenakis makes much, in this piece, of the dark, evocative tone of the low register of the viola, though there are outbursts of fast running contours up and down the strings, straying now and then to the thin high register as well. The piece proceeds in clearly delineated sections, each focusing on a particular texture, register, or character. The open tone of perfect intervals (fourths, fifths) is prevalent, though, throughout much of the piece. And, while the tone of the music may seem subdued, technically it's a great challenge. The same could be said, at times, for Bach. [Allmusic.com]

Art by Hans Hartung

Category:

Music

Tags:

• xenakis
• knox
• embellie
• viola