XENAKIS syrmos polytope medea LP 1969 avant experimental christou 1st press MINT

$

27

Iannis Xenakis "Syrmos / Polytope / Medea" LP issued by Erato (STU 70529) in France, 1969. Gatefold sleeve with a 36-page LP-size book. ****** Rec:m / Cov:m ****** Best 1st press copy ever seen, still mint after more than 40 years! Xenakis at his best. "Syrmos", for 18 string instruments and 15 minutes, dates from 1959 and uses techniques of string writing (not just the glissandos) that have become very familiar since. At first this can blunt the effect of "Syrmos", but as one begins to find one's way around all those transformations of texture the music's richness, its peculiar sort of expressive density, becomes apparent: beware of imitations. Performance and recording are first class. Afterwards "Le polytope de Montréal" seems rather monolithic: sustained high notes and percussive rumblings are great, even for a piece lasting only six minutes. The sleeve describes it as a "light and sound show for the French Pavilion at the Exposition Universelle of Montréal in 1967". "Medea" relates to another visual spectacle, being a suite "from the music created for Médee de Sénhque at the Théâtre de France", also in 1967. Resources are smaller than for "Polytope", male voices plus E flat clarinet, contra-bassoon, cello and percussion but the result very interesting, consisting of choruses with instrumental accompaniment and interludes. Xenakis' early music made a huge impression when it landed unexpectedly at Darmstadt in the 1950s. His music was advanced, certainly, but his vocabulary and concerns were so different that he might well have come from Mars (Greece, actually). His orchestral calling cards, "Metastasis" and "Pithoprakta" were taken up by Rosbaud and Scherchen. But what was his position on Webern's legacy? What did he think about aleatoric music? Xenakis seemed not to have followed the debates at all, and, while polite, didn't show much interest in being brought up to date either. I suppose the suspicion started there. Xenakis was the first composer to generate music using the room-size mainframe computers of the early 60s. Extremely historical! ****** The record looks like it has never been played. Top conditions! ****** Please wait to receive my invoice before sending the payment after the auction ends. Attention! Real postage costs are not USD 4 as all the items are located in Doha, Qatar (which has a very safe and professional post system). Postage costs registered up to 1 Kilo (generally 3 LPs): to Europe and Japan is USD 16,50 / to America and Oceania is USD 22,50. Postage costs registered up to 2 Kilos:  to Europe and Japan is USD 28,00 / to America and Oceania is USD 34,00. ****** More ebay auctions of ultra rare LP and K7 editions in the coming weeks. Next auction: Sound Poetry and Mail Art, Henri Chopin, Bernard Heidsieck, OU, Fylkingen, VEC tapes, M.B., Haters, etc… ****** Thank you for your kind attention and good luck with your bids.