Xenakis : : His Life in Music / / by James Harley.

• VerfasserIn: Harley, James,
• Place / Publishing House: Boca Raton, FL : : Taylor and Francis, an imprint of Routledge,, [2004].; ©2011.
• Year of Publication: 2004
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (273 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Xenakis: His Life in Music is a full-length study of the influential contemporary composer Iannis Xenakis. Following the trajectory of Xenakis’s compositional development, James Harley, who studied with Xenakis, presents the works together with clear explanations of the technical and conceptual innovations that shaped them. Harley examines the relationship between the composer and two early influences: Messiaen and Le Corbusier. Particular attention is paid to analyzing works which were vital to the composer’s creative development, from early, unpublished works to the breakthrough pieces Metastasis and Pithoprakta, through the oft-discussed decade of formalization and the evolving styles of the succeeding three decades.

Table of Contents

The outsider -- From the personal to the individual -- From architecture to algorithm -- The voice, the stage, and a new conception of time -- Arborescences, random walks, and cosmic conceptions -- Sieves, ensembles, and thoughts of death -- Melody, harmonic color, and nonlinear form -- The late works: abstraction and intensity.