Search - Alpha Centauri Ensemble, Roger Woodward :: Iannis Xenakis: Kraanerg

A Major Xenakis Work, Well Performed

John Atwell | Canoga Park, CA USA | 10/31/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is for Xenakis fans only, but what an orgy of sound! Nothing less than a war in sound. (Perhaps the 1812 Overture for the avant garde?) Comparison to the Charles Zacharie Bornstein performance is in order: The Alpha Centauri version tends to melt the tape sections into the ensemble sections, where the Bornstein ST-X Ensemble has more defined break between the sections. I obtained the Alpha Centauri recording first, so it may be just familiarity, but I find the tempos faster and the whole piece more exciting as a result. Some of you may not like the fact that this recording is not "banded" but rather appears on the CD as one gigantic track of 70-plus minutes - you may then prefer the Bornstein CD. Disciminating listeners will not be disappointed in this long Xenakis work - it is a true tour de force. The fantastic French Horn duet near the end of the piece is worth the price of admission - a wild, passionate frenzy! Yes, that's right, passionate Xenakis. The subtext of the piece (Kraan means accomplishment, erg is, of course, energy) is a "biological revolution" between the younger and older generations, predicted in the wake of the European youth movements that occurred in 1968. But the conflict embodied in this piece spreads across generations and ideas. It "awaits us," says Xenakis, "irrespective of the ideological contents of these movements.""

Good performance, weak recording

Robert Kainer | houston, tx | 02/11/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A better performance than the more recent Borenstein recording (the one with DJ Spooky for hipness cachet), but sadly the recording levels seem rather weak. When I hear Xenakis, I expect to be pummeled through the back of my seat, but the electronic sections especially, which I imagine should be like monolithic slabs of sound, are rather wan in the mix, more like washes of ambience. Musically the piece is sort of a combination of the repeated-note instrumental style of "Akrata" with the electroacoustic style of Bohor - one is reminded structurally very much of Varese's "Deserts""