AMG Review of Xenakis: Musique Electro-Acoustique

Brian Olewnick
All Music Guide

This disc comprises two works from the '80s utilizing electronics and tape manipulation, one involving voices and permutations thereof. The text for "Pour la Paix," much of it written by the composer's wife and recited in French, deals with the effects and psychologies of war. As recited by male and female speakers and augmented by a surprisingly traditional sounding choir, the words are sandwiched between and buffeted by various electronic attacks. The sonic components tend to be sequential, with little of the complex richness bordering on chaos found in a typical Xenakis composition. Many of the taped sounds also appear somewhat conventional, occasionally reminding one of the slightly loopy creations of early rock experimenters with the Moog synthesizer. This makes for an ungainly and, in the context of the composer's masterful oeuvre, ultimately disappointing work with little of the power or majesty of nearly contemporaneous pieces like Persepolis or La Legende d'Eer. The second composition, "Voyage Absolu des Unari Vers Andromede," fares significantly better. Entirely electronic, Xenakis weaves a thick web of organ-like tones offset by sputters and clangs. Circling each other in a remarkably three-dimensional manner, endless patterns are achieved, coming reasonably close to aurally depicting an interstellar flight of sorts. In this case, the sometimes goofy taped sounds are appropriate. Musique Electro-Acoustique doesn't rank anywhere near the best this late, great composer had to offer, but shows a rather more lenient, softer side of his persona, one that the new listener might find more readily accessible.