Iannis Xenakis’ Rebonds, plus John Cage and George Crumb at the Tenri Cultural Institute.

Saturday, January 27, 2007 at 8:00 PM

Even for composers well-versed in the eccentricities of concert percussion in the context of orchestral or chamber music, writing unpitched multi-percussion music for solo performer is an entirely different beast. For example, the seemingly endless variety of new and unusual sounds can leave a composer intoxicated with timbre, focusing primarily on the surface, at the cost of structure and thematic material.

Iannis Xenakis‘ Rebonds, which I’m thrilled to be performing at the Tenri Cultural Institute for ACME this month, is the rare case of a multi-percussion solo piece that succeeds on both surface and structural levels. In fact, here Xenakis uses contrasting timbres as motivic material, much like the A and B themes of a sonata: they define the structure of the piece. Happily, this music isn’t content to just be a brilliant example of skillful and thoughtful composition, it also ROCKS.

Here’s an excerpt from one of my live performances of the b movement:

And speaking of rocking, the incredible mezzo-soprano Bo Chang will open the program with John Cage’s Aria, and the rest of ACME will perform Cage’s Quartet in Four Parts and George Crumb’s Voice of the Whale, complete with psychotropic lighting and party masks…

Saturday, January 27, 2007
8:00 pm
Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A W 13th Street, NYC

John Cage: Aria featuring mezzo-soprano Bo Chang (1958)
John Cage: Quartet in Four Parts (1950)
George Crumb: Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale; 1971)
Iannis Xenakis: Rebonds a and b (1987/1989)

Tickets: $15 & $8 for students with ID

ACME is dedicated to the outstanding performance of contemporary masterworks for chamber ensemble, principally written by American composers. The dynamic ensemble’s concerts are a unique blend of intelligent performance and vibrant energy.

“The ACME Ensemble is fast making a lasting impression on the New York new music landscape.” - Time Out New York

The Tenri Cultural Institute is a gallery space in Greenwich Village with fantastic acoustics that is becoming more and more popular for intimate concerts such as those presented by ACME. For directions, click here.

Finally, here is my program note for the Xenakis:

Iannis Xenakis’ interest in stochastic phenomenon informed and influenced much of his compositional process. In nature one might imagine the sound of a rioting crowd, where the cumulative aural experience seems random, despite the fact that each individual sound, could it be heard on its own, would be forging its own logical, predetermined path. In his orchestral music, Xenakis imitates this effect by combining dozens of individual voices, each composed using strict mathematical processes, yet creating the overall effect of randomness.

Although these mathematical processes create much of the musical material in Rebonds a and b, which have become arguably the most popular pieces in the limited repertoire for the contemporary solo percussionist, there is another level of drama that unfolds within each movement. In a, the tension lives in the conversation between the right and the left hands of the performer. What begins as a level-headed discussion, back and forth between right and left, slowly disintegrates into a battle as the two hands begin to overlap and interrupt each other. These two voices then violently diverge from one another, speaking concurrently such that neither can be understood. The movement ends in total disagreement, surprisingly since the two voices had seemed so alike.

Where Rebonds a depicts a violent separation of two very similar voices, Rebonds b forces an unnatural unification of two voices that are strikingly different. After about a minute of musical material unfolding on five drums, the new timbre of temple blocks is suddenly introduced. Throughout the movement the drums and temple blocks systematically adopt each others themes and musical material, which has an odd feeling of awkwardness, as if it went against the very nature of the instruments. This uncomfortable effect is enhanced by passages that are classic examples of the composer’s tendency to write music not technically possible for a single performer. In the end, the two voices are forced to unify completely, yet it seems oddly unsatisfying, like mixing oil and water.

- Chris Thompson