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March 01, 2009
Iannis Xenakis, "Polla Ta Dhina"
"A new Monteverdi? A new Stravinsky? A new Schoenberg? Perhaps even more because that is all in the past, the present and the future of music as well as thought. . . the method and the work of Iannis Xenakis pose the question again. The worldwide republic of musicians is totally shaken." -- LE NOUVEL ADAM
Writes conductor Konstantin Simonovitch: My first meeting with Iannis Xenakis took place in 1960, after performances of the first work that I had conducted on the scores of Webern and Varese with the Paris Instrumental Ensemble for Contemporary Music which I had founded two years before. I was then searching for new compositions through which I could explain the very reason I for the existence of my orchestra. The musical thought of Xenakis which manifested itself I in very audacious and totally contrived structures, as well as the technical means by which he brought them to life, put me I in the presence of a type of music which existed totally . . . His work seemed to me most valuable for its evocation of a certain nobility of spirit, both in the listener as well as the musician. Therefore, a few months after our meeting, we completed the first recording of Analogical A & B, a recording which proved to both of us the necessity of continuing and going further and further; even beyond so-called "reasonable" limits that had, for centuries, been enforced upon us by the conservatories.Years of collaboration between the composer and the Ensemble musicians followed . . . in May 1965 we finally organized the first Xenakis Festival, a daring but historic evening, and it is with pride that we are today (with some symphonic works as exceptions) the only orchestra in the world having as a repertoire the complete works of Xenakis.
SIDE ONE
19:50
POLLA TA DHINA
for Children's Chorus and Orchestra (1962)
(band 1 - 7:35)
Premiered in 1962 at the Stuttgart Festival of Light Music for which it was commissioned, Polla Ta Dhina is dedicated to Hermann Scherchen. Interestingly, the vocal portion of the composition is an extract from Sophocles' "Antigone" titled here, "Hymn to Man."
ENCLOSED: Leaflet with Greek transliteration and English translation.
| polla ta thina kuthen anthropu thinoteron peli; tuto ke poliu peran pontu khimerio noto khori, perivrykhiisin peron yp' ithmasin; theon te tan ypertatan, Gan aphthiton, akamatan, apotryete illomenon apotron etos is etos ippio yeni polevon. kuphonoon te phylon ornithon amphivalon ayi ke thiron agrion ethni pontu t' inalian physin stiresi thiktyoklostis, periphrathis anir; krati the mikhanes agravlu thiros oressivata, lasiavkhena th' ippon okhmadzete amphi lophon dzygon urion t' akmita tavron. ke phthegma ke anemoen phronima ke astynomus agoras ethithaxato ke thysavlon pagon ypethria ke thysomvra phevyin veli, pantoporos; aporos ep' uthen erkhete to mellon; Aitha monon phevxin uk eraxete; noson th' amikhanon phygas xympephraste. sophon ti to mikhanoen tekhnas yper elpith' ekhon tote men kakon, allot' ep' esthlon erpi. . . . | Wonders are many, but none more wondrous than man; he crosses the sea in storms of winter, cutting through surging waves; the greatest goddess, Earth, untainted, unwearied, he wears away, plowing furrows year after year, his horses turning the soil. He traps the light-witted race of birds and beasts of field and sea with his knotted nets, this thoughtful man; he craftily rules over flocks born in the mountains, he yokes the shaggy neck of the horse and the mighty bull. Speech and wind-swift thought and commerce he has taught himself, and how to find shelter from cold winds and rain, this inventive creature; he is never helpless in danger; death only he never escapes, though he has contrived to avoid sickness. Wise and clever, with skills beyond imagining, he creeps now toward evil, now toward good.. . . |
(translation by George Sponhaltz)
Originally from ANABlog, ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on Mar 1, 2009 at 05:11 AM