XENAKIS: “EVRYALI,” “HERMA.” MESSIAEN: “QUATRE ETUDES DE...

XENAKIS: “EVRYALI,” “HERMA.” MESSIAEN: “QUATRE ETUDES DE RYTHME.Yuji Takahashi, piano, Denon 33C0-1052 (compact disc). At a mere 35 minutes’ running time, this may represent the worst CD bargain of the year. Takahashi’s clinical playing doesn’t represent extraordinary value, either. Messiaen’s four studies in rhythm borrow both from New Guinean folk sources and Gregorian chant to build tightly organized forms which heavily influenced French keyboard writing after World War II. Xenakis absorbed those lessons, adding his own mathematical basis for composition. Takahashi’s closely miked performances of the latter’s works falter occasionally, and his colorless traversal of the Messiaen pieces sounds like preaching to the already converted.