XENAKIS: “Pleiades;” ISHII: Concertante. Les Percussions de...

XENAKIS: “Pleiades;” ISHII: Concertante. Les Percussions de Strasbourg; Keiko Abe, marimba. Denon 81757 3678 2 (compact disc). Written for the Strasbourg ensemble, Xenakis’ four-movement suite explores the gamut of percussion sounds with his characteristic mixture of rigorous process and galvanic energy, all pertinently and powerfully rapped out here. Maki Ishii’s 1988 Concertante for marimba solo and six percussionists is a more lyrical effort, with a diffuse, suspended sense of time, neatly captured in a performance at once earthy and abstracted.