Iannis Xenakis - La Légende D'Eer (1995)

Iannis Xenakis knows no bounds in his composing; he's equally at home scoring for a full orchestra as he is writing for electro-acoustic processes. Most of the time, it's hard to tell the two apart--he's one of the few composers who can make an orchestral sound electronic and an electro-acoustic work sound orchestral. On this release, he raises the bar yet one notch higher by incorporating natural sound sources into his electronic work. Woven into this piece are sounds of African and Japanese instruments and a lots of found sounds, most of which have been reprocessed in the studio. The result is an utterly chaotic and complex matrix of very organic sounds, occasionally punctuated by the more familiar musique concrète whooshes and stock electronic music gurgles. Originally commissioned for the opening of the Pompidu Center in 1978, the piece had its premiere in the Beaubourg square in Paris and fully reflects Xenakis' concern with the architectural and spatial qualities of his music. At once natural and industrial, there's a certain poetry specific to Xenakis in this disc which makes this release stand out from the myriad run-of-the-mill electronic releases and reissues flooding the market today. --Kenneth Goldsmith