Xenakis: Tetora

Listening to tostarello ...

Does anyone know the reasoning behind this piece? I find it very interesting as a listen... thanks Tiger for the tip

wow!

i was just asking for this score yesterday! i don't know if it's a coincidence... but in any case, thank you so much! one of his most beautiful pieces! full of energy!

i don't yet know what the rational principles behind the functioning of this score are. at the moment, i sense a very strong melodic content, treated in a rather heterophonic manner. the harmony derives directly from this melodic material (in an interview with Xenakis, he was asked why his latest works - among them Tetora - turned out to be more... euphonious. he simply replied that it was due to the changed melodic material used. technically, his answer is flawless...) surely there is also the influence of his acquaintance with the good Feldman behind it... from this point of view, the composition is very close to ancient medieval or Renaissance music... even to proto-Baroque music, in which melodic material (Gregorian chant) was used as a starting point to build... fundamentally something else entirely.

rhythmically, the piece is sculptural: crystal clear, with a granitic definition.

Then there is also his usual (somewhat hedonistic, hehehe) taste for sonic matter: the pleasure one feels for the materiality of sound... the sound of a string quartet, precisely, which I would say has a... tactile... material pleasure, like that of a material such as stone... or iron etc. etc... you can feel this sonic taste I am talking about from the very first note.

if i have time, i will analyze it "rationally"... for the moment, i have only given you my memories of the impressions from when i listened to it years ago...

p.s.

i take the liberty of suggesting a key of "reading" to those who say it is a "tough" listen: i believe there is no more... masochistic way to listen to music than trying to find something in that music... that fundamentally isn't there!!! i believe there is a need to "put oneself into listening mode"! make a tabula rasa and give our ears a blank slate and simply listen to what the composer has to say, if they have anything to say. objectively, i don't think Tetora is difficult music to listen to. a Mozart sonata is more complex to listen to. of course, if we read Proust in Italian, it is easier than Mickey Mouse in Chinese... it all depends on whether we are able to decipher the linguistic code...

scelsi wrote:

p.s.

I take the liberty of suggesting a key for "reading" to those who say it is a "tostarello" [dry/stale] listening: I believe there is no more... masochistic way to listen to music than trying to find something in that music... that fundamentally isn't there!!! I believe there is a need to "put oneself into listening"! make a clean slate and give our ears carte blanche and simply listen to what the composer has to say, if they have anything to say.

Thank you for the suggestion, but frankly I don't throw away my ears for a piece or a composer

Marcello wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion, but frankly I don't throw away my ears for a piece or a composer

worst for you! I do it for every piece and every composer, without prejudice regarding historical era.

scelsi wrote:

worse for you! I do it for every piece and every composer, without prejudice regarding historical era.

In fact, I have listened. However, no human being (I am obviously referring to the composer and not to you) can ask another to "suffer" for them.

Marcello wrote:

In fact, I have listened. However, no human being (I am obviously referring to the composer and not to you) can ask another to "annihilate" themselves for them.

well "annihilate" seems excessive to me... there are surely references even for this music.

anyway hey! the doctor didn't say you have to listen to it or like it!

scelsi wrote:

if I have time I will analyze it "rationally"...

It would be magnificent.

Ratatouille89 wrote:

It would be magnificent.

the first step is to perform a
formal analysis. divide the piece into macro-sections. usually in xen this is quite easy to do and the sections are clearly distinct from one another...