New Iannis Xenakis Box Set Coming In January

Berlin-based Karlrecords has announced a new box set of the works of pioneering electroacoustic composer & architect Iannis Xenakis.

Xenakis (1922 – 2001) was a composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and engineer. His works explore set theory, stochastic processes, game theory, electronics and more.

He also worked as an architect with Le Corbusier, and created the unique Philips Pavilion at Expo 58, which featured site-specific spatialized music.

The 5 LP / 5 CD box set celebrates the 100th anniversary of Xenakis (on May 29th, 2022). The tracks have been mixed and mastered for the release to reveal their full sonic range and dynamics.

The box set is scheduled for release in Jan 2022, with pre-orders starting in December.

Formats:

  • 5x 180gram LP incl 4c insert and download code + booklet
  • 5x Digipack CD + booklet
  • Digital download

Preview Mycenae Alpha from the upcoming Iannis Xenakis box set:

44 thoughts on “New Iannis Xenakis Box Set Coming In January

    1. someone will make a sample kit out of this for 9.99
      but this is a sampler dream kit all that noise!
      Lets see who turns it into a drum kit….

  1. Interesting. Xenakis is great and important conceptually. But yeah his stuff can be extremely difficult to listen to, and something you don’t ever want to listen to a second time. Some of the labels he’s claimed have been damaged by his connection in that people don’t want to listen ever because they heard his version. Yet other approaches have been developed since then. In this way he is so incredibly similar to Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s absolutely brilliant work which is valuable and exceptionally difficult perhaps impossible to love to listen to. And many have come since then who are not so difficult to listen to.

    1. There’s also the possibility he and others similar as Morton Subotnik
      couldn’t actually figure out how to make what we would call melodies, accompaniments from the gear at their disposal.
      Or as a musician couldn’t actually make melodies : there are lots of people as this.

      Or needed someone to show them what could be done melodically with their gear.

      Compared to Gershon Kingsley 1969 Music to Moog by with the melodic hit single Popcorn

      1. “here’s also the possibility he and others similar as Morton Subotnik
        couldn’t actually figure out how to make what we would call melodies”

        These guys could all cough up melodies all day, if they wanted to.

        Art music of the 20th century, though, is about exploring how to make music that doesn’t rely on classical melody and harmony. It’s also about making music that goes beyond trying to “soothe the savage beast”.

        20th century composers grew up with World Wars, the holocaust, nuclear war, Viet Nam – and they wanted to make music that dealt with the reality they saw, instead of following the classical tradition of making soothing music for rich white European people.

        Novelty music, on the other hand, is always going to be more popular than serious music. And most early synth music falls into the novelty category – it was interesting to listeners because they used a funny synth sound for the lead in an otherwise standard pop arrangement.

        1. @DMW

          I wrote elsewhere

          “Was Xenakis trying to compose the chaos of the modern world that machines have created
          in contrast to the harmony melody of acoustic nature ?.

          Was these the sounds Xenakis heard in his head going crazy thinking about maths, architecture?

          Was it that Xenakis was fed up of coming up with similar melodies accompaniment when he tried to compose traditionally
          due to what he felt was his limited ability
          And due to nothing new under the sun in classical orchestral music.
          And thought you know what : to hell with melodies, I can compose anyway I want,
          I can compose new different ways with electronics that hasn’t been done before in music.”

          With regard to “serious music” I will leave that to the academics to debate as it has been done to death.
          Suffice to say 1970s 3rd wave of pioneers could easily make synth music as Xenakis but they chose not to.
          It is easier to destroy to make “destructive music” as Xenakis.
          It’s easy to be haughty about hey I make serious music.

          To create something that helps heal the worried mind, to help people through struggles in life , to soothe the spirit
          now that is worthwhile requires humbleness.

          Listen to Japanese electronica they suffered Atomic Bombs:
          Where is their harsh war destructive music.
          Instead we find Zen Music from Kitaro, Hiroshi Yoshimura, Takashi Kokubom

  2. Have listened to this genre of music/art for years……Xenakis is amazing …this box set is a absolute must for me!

  3. If you know some music from composers like Xenakis and Subotnick, you realize that what people today call ‘experimental music’ is just an excuse for wankery.

    1. And making some annoying sounds, no matter how conceptually brilliant, isn’t wankery? ^^
      Ah yeah that’s art, right. Laughs
      So if you make annoying sounds and don’t have a concept it’s not art, but if you have some wild concept the same rubbish is art. Aha. Hihi.

      1. The thing is – and its ludicrous these even needs to be said – but ‘annoying’ is completely subjective. I love a lot of Xenakis’ stuff, which is also a subjective position. What’s not subjective, is how important – in terms of exploring new ideas, and inspiring generations of composers – Xenakis was.

      2. Experimental academic music sucks;
        Usually the argument is you don’t understand what is going on and you don’t want to listen to new sounds, well nope.
        I simply don’t enjoy this academic ivory tower.
        Don’t get me started on Stockhausen. ^^

      3. People thought The Rite Of Spring was ‘annoying sounds’, but you wouldn’t call it ‘wankery’.

        The challenge for composers is that people like lala may not have the knowledge to know the difference between wankery and challenging music. People hear Xenakis or Subotnick and think it’s just somebody wanking around. And some musicians take that as license to wank around vs actually taking the time to understand some challenging music and then try to create something original.

        1. It’s very simple, do I want to listen to Tristram Cary or Stockhausen or mr subotnick ever again? NO.
          Art of noise or throbbing gristle or afx or something is way more my cup of tea because I can emotionally relate to that, meaning I get some kind of kick out of it.
          That academic stuff leaves me empty, it does nothing for me. It’s bloodless music.

        2. it’s fine to not like it obvs, but I found myself getting very annoyed at the attitude that that makes it bad – I think of things I don’t like that people on here might find sacrosanct (eg Stranger Things, Gary Newman) but I can’t put myself in the mindset that they are bad just because I don’t like them

          and also I’d say that it’s true that what you are used to plays a part in what you like – if you are accustomed to the soundworld you can hear the beauty in it, it’s not so alien

          Xenakis doesn’t really have that many “gateway” pieces that might get you into him, he’s quite uncompromising – I’d give Polla Ta Dhina a go, or maybe Kottos

  4. It must be very Hard for some to bash composers n their music….art is subjective….if you don’t like or understand their works or the composers minds…then please move on…so much other music n composers out there to enjoy..

    The bashing rhetoric is like SOAP!!

  5. Costui non amava la tribe music e le batterie elettroniche… come Stockhausen d’altronde ed altri, forse per questo sono rimasti nella storia della musica seria contemporanea?

    1. I think you are overstreching the importance of composers that actually had a very little audience. This is not the velvet underground. 😉

      1. But interesting thought about the drums, none of this is music that makes you shake your behind, maybe that’s why it never left the academic ivory tower audience.

    2. ok ferdinando ma ormai il cervello dei più è lobotomizzato dal “il niente” propagandato tutto il giorno tutti i giorni da decenni.
      Con le possibilità tecnologiche odierne chissà cosa avrebbero fatto berio maderna xenakis ecc.
      Non ti curar di loro perchè non sanno quello che dicono…:):):)
      stanno bene nel loro niente…lasciali li.

      1. im sure they would come up with another “brillant concept” thats annoying to listen too. ^^
        oh my computer has diarrhoea …

  6. I wonder if it is a man thing:
    I will be dammed if I’m going to have any semblance of melody;
    This is me take it or leave it;
    I’m an angry young man a rebel hear my voice.

    Compared to when we listen to Daphne Oram genius inventor of Oramics, Delia Derbyshire
    their music is melodic as well as experimental.

  7. I would say electronic music needed the 3rd wave of 1970s pioneers of melodic electronica
    To become the industry it is nowadays where people can program software design build euroracks as a career.
    To become music to help heal people, to help pepole cope with life’s struggles, to uplift people, to help people feel part of something.

    Electronic music also needed the 2nd wave of pioneers with their experimental works as Xenakis

    *1948 Pierre Schaeffer

    *1950s Daphne Oram Oramics.

    *1956 Forbidden Planet Electronic soundtrack  by Bebe Barron Louis Barron.

    *1956 Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan Dick Raaijmakers’ Song of The Second Moon.

    *1957 Prelude Au Sommeil album by Jean Jaques Perrey the birth of Light Electronic Ambient.
    Was made to be played in the background to be sleep inducing hence the title.

    *1958 Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan Dick Raaijmakeers Electronic Movements.

    *1963 Delia Derbyshire Dr Who Theme electronic rendition (composer Ron Grainer).

    *1963 Tom Dissevelt’s Fantasy in Orbit Round the World with Electronic Music.

    *1966 Gershon Kingsley & Jean Jacques Perrey The In Sound from Way Out album.

    ‘1967 Gershon Kingsley and Jean Jacques Perrey on Kaleidoscopic Vibrations.

    *1967 Morton Subotnik Silver Apples of the Moon.

    *1969 Popcorn Gershon Kingsley.

    *1969Usa/1970Uk Rainbow in a Curved Air by Terry Riley.

    * 1969 Pop Electronique by Cecil Leuter.

    *1969 Michael Czajkowski People the Sky.

    *1969 Jean Jacques Perrey & Harry Breuer album The Happy Moog. 

    1. Hm, all not that important
      Let’s look at who sold records. 😉
      Wendy Carlos 1968 Switched on Bach
      Wendy Carlos 1972 clockwork orange soundtrack
      😉

      1. @Lala

        *2nd wave pioneers were important because
        3rd wave pioneers of 1970s said we don’t want to make music as most of the 2nd wave pioneers experimentalism.
        Thus if it wasn’t for the 2nd wave, the 3rd wave may well have made records as the 2nd wave experimentalism.
        Thus 2nd wave were an important necessary evolutionary step.

        *On those 2nd wave pioneers records I listed
        on some of them are to be found
        1st Ambient, 1st Berlin School, 1st Trance, 1st Techno, 1st Synth song with Lead melody.
        All of these are the bedrock of most electronic music from 1970s to nowadays.
        Thus these were important influence upon 1970s 3rd wave.

        *Record sales doesn’t equate to importance.
        It’s the 2nd wave influence upon 3rd wave that’s important :
        as highlighted in the above 2 points.

        *Artistically a musician selling 1 record or 0 records
        is as important in their art as a musician selling millions of records.
        For instance you Lala as a musician as an artistic human being
        are as important as any musician any artistic human being selling millions of records.

        1. Hm, obviously Jean Michel Jarre was influenced by ideas of Pierre Schaeffer.
          But the question is do you need Musique concrète to come up with oxygen?
          My answer to that is no.
          Do you need Switched on Bach (1968) to come up with oxygen (1976).
          Oh yes. Absolutely.

          1. Wendy as classic trained composer certainly didn’t need to watch forbidden planet (insert whatever you think of here) to come up with switched on Bach.
            See what I mean? 🙂
            What you think of as 3rd wave hasn’t much to do with the first or 2nd wave. And they didn’t need to know about that. I doubt most of them did.

            1. Had hawkwind daphne oram on the record shelf?
              Certainly not.
              Had Kraftwerk Xenakis on the record shelf?
              I don’t think so.

              It’s just that stuff was available now and not weird laboratories test equipment not built for the purpose to make music!

              My 2 cents

              1. What may look like the timeline of electronic music now, wasn’t like that in the 70s. The stuff before was people they probably never heard of.
                (Except of dr who and forbidden planet, maybe.)

                1. This is why I talk about record sales. The more popular stuff is/was the more you had/have the chance that it appears on your radar. You can’t be influenced by something you never heard of. 😉

  8. Interesting to see the amount of discussion on this post.

    My take is that everybody enjoys a bit of dessert, but it’s not healthy if that’s all you eat.

    You have to include some serious works in your musical diet, or your tastes will never mature beyond a child’s.

  9. If I were to say that I dislike Xenakis’ music, I would be dishonest with myself. I create stuff like this every single time I start screwing around with my eurorack. That’s just all there is to it. I like doing it. Sometimes I don’t like what other people create, but I do just like doing it myself.

    Actually, what would be absolutely funny is to see Rick Beato or some other popular music analyst try and explain Xenakis, but in conventional terms.

    1. @Brian

      I wrote earlier :

      *There’s also the possibility he and others similar as Morton Subotnik
      couldn’t actually figure out how to make what we would call melodies, accompaniments from the gear at their disposal.

      Or as a musician couldn’t actually make melodies : there are lots of musicians as this.
      Their brains are wired differently.

      Or needed someone to show them what could be done melodically with their gear.

      Compared to Gershon Kingsley 1969 Music to Moog by with the melodic hit single Popcorn.

      *Also perhaps there’s the angry young man syndrome :
      This is my sh*t , this is me take it or leave it, I don’t give a sh*t.
      Compared to the emotionally mature Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire melodic and experimental electronica.

      1. @Wooooo

        I think that Xenakis knew how to make melodies, etc., but he was fascinated by something else. As for “Popcorn,” I remember hearing that when I was a kid. Hell of an ear worm for me, that one. It played in so many stores’ background music.

        As for what Xenakis thought, there’s at least one interview with him on YouTube (the automatic subtitles can be hilarious). I am not sure that he was creating music, or exploring sound as music. Sometimes he frames things as himself vs the serialists. He references probabilities in period, in sounds. I think of Xenakis as an explorer. He was mapping unexplored lands.

  10. It’s kind of amusing that people feel Xenakis’ influence on contemporary music is being overstated. I mean, he literally invented granular synthesis. Someone like Aphex Twin might be dismissive of ‘academic’ composers like Xenakis, but he has no issue regularly using the compositional systems they invent.

    You don’t have to like anything, but Xenakis, and many of the others mentioned above, did fundamentally altar the musical landscape – particularly in terms of prioritising textural and rhythmical aspects above harmonic and melodic aspects. Being ‘melodic’ isn’t a good thing in and of its self, it’s just one of many, many possible compositional choices.

    1. @DAAM

      When we listen to Anastenaria, Six Chansons for Piano by Xenakis
      they are lilting melodic acoustic instrument compositions
      in stark contrast to his synth works.

      Why so?

      We can only guess :

      Was Xenakis trying to compose the chaos of the modern world that machines have created
      in contrast to the harmony melody of acoustic nature ?.

      Was these the sounds Xenakis heard in his head going crazy thinking about maths, architecture?

      Was it that Xenakis was fed up of coming up with similar melodies accompaniment when he tried to compose traditionally
      due to what he felt was his limited ability
      And due to nothing new under the sun in classical orchestral music.
      And thought you know what : to hell with melodies, I can compose anyway I want,
      I can compose new different ways with electronics that hasn’t been done before in music.

      Was it that Xenakis knew he could get away with doing this because the public didn’t know any better?
      Public expected this from electronic music in the 50s 60s.
      If it was done in the 70s it wouldn’t wash becuase the public in the 70s know that synthesisers are melodic instruments in the right hands.

      Interesting to me is the 1970s pioneers could easily make synth music as Xenakis but they chose not to.
      It is a LOT harder to write a melodic synth score that has Xenakis style synth sound design included as part of its sonic palette.

    2. Hold it now, lol
      I want some controlled random events here …
      You really don’t need Xenakis to think of that for you 😉

  11. exploratory music is valuable even if it only helps you learn what you don’t like.

    I do like Xenakis and many forms of “ear stretching” music in addition to traditional musics
    from around the world

    open your mind, ears and heart.

    peace

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