MUSIC REVIEW : Concert Shows Breadth of Xenakis’ Compositions

Heard individually, the compositions of Iannis Xenakis assault the ear with their abrasive insularity. But entertaining a sampling of his music, especially works written for various media, brings out unexpected connections with more familiar 20th-Century traditions. Wednesday night’s program at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium, the first concert of the university’s week long Xenakis festival, provided such an opportunity.

“A Colone,” a moving ode for men’s chorus and 12 instruments, brought to mind the rhythmic iterations of Stravinsky and the sustained, dissonant harmonies of Balkan ensemble singing. Using an Attic-language text from Sophocles’ final tragedy, “Oedipus at Sophocles,” Xenakis’ stark choral declamation conjured antique pathos aptly framed by his dense but sporadic instrumental commentary. Conductor Philip Larson’s disciplined beat kept his forces together, although the 20-voice chorus did not end with the stamina and clear diction with which it commenced.

Two instrumental solos focused on Xenakis’ demanding virtuoso expectations. “Mikka” and “Mikka S” for solo violin found UCSD professor Janos Negyesy executing one continuous multivoiced glissando. Although its sinuous shape suggested an organic model, the raw sound of “Mikka” also hearkened back to the sonic experiments of Edgar Varese much earlier in this century. Negyesy played the two short works with customary panache.

Even more impressive was Heather Buchman’s performance of “Keren” for solo trombone. The San Diego Symphony principal trombonist was unruffled by its angular, athletic lines, and she sustained a well-focused, ingratiating tone even when growling out the lowest multiphonics. Despite the work’s overly sectional structure, Buchman forged it into a broad, sustained arch from start to finish, and her use of mounted mutes was pure finesse.

Under the direction of UCSD music faculty member Rand Steiger, SONOR gave a spirited reprise of “Thallein,” the 1984 Xenakis opus the ensemble performed here in mid-March. No less striking or demanding on a repeat performance, in the context of these other Xenakis offerings “Thallein” called to mind the percussive rhetoric of Bartok.

It may take a long time for Xenakis to become mainstream, but the sheer visceral appeal of his structures may eventually win over those who have little patience for the mathematic metaphysics that undergird his compositions.

The Xenakis festival continues today at 8 p.m. with a piano recital by Alan Feinberg in Mandeville Auditorium--also the site for a Saturday 8 p.m. concert. The final concert is outdoors at 5 p.m. Sunday, on the grounds of the Salk Institute.