Iannis Xenakis - Rebonds
Music with
an almost ritual character. Large parts of the piece are underpinned by a
rigid and peculiar pulse which is 'under attack' almost continuously from
various kinds of instability. This is music which moves between the primitive
and the sophisticated. Cascaes of drum sounds, ranging from the lowest to
the highest pitched drums, chase and repeat themselves. The listener is given
the opportunity to participate in this peculiar conflict between the ritual,
static and the pacing, chaotic. It is precisely this interaction between the
controlled and the chaotic which characterizes much of Xenakis' music. An
almost banal stringency is contrasted with extremely complex relational surfaces
in the music. At one important moment the only contrast in the piece is introduced:
the wood blocks. The monumental world of drums is contrasted with this sound
which both sonically and dynamically belongs to the opposite end of the spectrum.
The piece thus concludes with a kind of strange synthesis between the sonic
extremes, wood and skin, and the contrast of exising and dissolving pulse.