Iannis Xenakis - Synaphaï; Aroura; Antikhthon; Keqrops

Iannis XENAKIS (1922-2001)

Synaphaï - for Piano and Orchestra (1969)

Aroura - for String Orchestra (1971)

Antikhthon - ballet, for String Orchestra

Keqrops - for Piano and Orchestra**

Geoffrey Douglas Madge (Piano)*

Roger Woodward (Piano)**

New Philharmonia Orchestra

Elgar Howarth 

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester**

Claudio Abbado**

Recording locations: Kingsway Hall, London, 28 & 29 November 1975 (Synaphai, Aroura, Antikhthon): Konzerthaus, Vienna, 30 October 1992 (Kekrops)

Sorry, 21st Century reviews, I've enjoyed some other of your Xenakis reviews, but on this one you are really way off. First, and although it is arguably peripheral to the matter, you should be more careful not to throw around words at random just because they seem to sound good and make an impact. The decision makers at Decca may be "opportunists", but to call them "corporate fascists" is an insult to all those who ever lived under fascist rule (and that includes Xenakis himself), and shows only that you have no notion of what fascism is. You mean, those who decided on that Xenakis reissue are of the same ilk as Bachir El Assad gasing his own population? Well, yes, many foes of Xenakis would probably agree with you here on the appositeness of the metaphor, but I doubt that this is what you had in mind. So just call them "opportunists" if you will (although we are not talking here about a case of having the three tenors record Xenakis. What's opportunistic at issuing or reissuing any Xenakis, I really wonder. It's more like dedication, if not sheer madness).

Second and more fundamental, your problems with this reissue seem entirely misguided. That it is a reissue and not a new recording of hitherto unrecorded Xenakis? Yeah, well, new Xenakis is fine, but to have major "old" Xenakis back and still available, in a cheap and valuable offering, is also great. That all the stuff is already in the Alpha & Omega box, Alpha & Omega 1922-01, and that only "the cheap noob" would be interested by less when he can have more?

How condescending really. Well, you know, I'm sure that there is an audience that is not ready to dive in four CDs of Xenakis but would like to try out one, and good for them, let us hope that your condescension doesn't deter them. And for these, this reissue is a good place to start, with four major and powerful works of the composer, and it is a very clever reissue too. I've complained in my review of the Explore CD which reissued Synaphai / Aroura / Antikhton (originally published in 1976 on an LP from the Decca Head series), that the LP-designed total time was way too short for a CD. The decision of the corporate fascists to add Keqrops, from Abbado's Wien Modern III recital, Wien Modern III, certainly solves that, and contributes to one of the best available offerings for those wanting a valuable, well-filled all-Xenakis recital.

And there's another reason why not just beginners in Xenakis but Xenakis mavens like me may NOT want to buy the Alpha & Omega set. First, because they are cheap noobs no doubt, supportive of the corporate fascists who make reissues like this one. But mainly because, like myself, they would already have much of the material reissued on the Alpha & Omega set, including some early Adès or Adda releases that you don't even mention in your review of the Alpha & Omega reissue, and because, being serious collectors and not exclusive Xenakis fans, they'd rather go to the originals rather than incomplete reissues which leave aside much of the original issues, especially when they were recitals with pieces by other composers.

As it is, this augmented Decca reissue now makes this one of the best introductions to the music of Xenakis.

Amazon Reviewer