Xenakis: Ensemble Music

Xenakis: Ensemble Music - 2
ST-X Ensemble USA - Charles Zachary Bornstein
Mode 56

Contents:

  1. Échange (1989; bass clarinet, ensemble)
  2. Okho (1989; 3 djembes)
  3. Xas (1987; saxophone quartet)
  4. Akrata (1965-65; 8 winds, 8 brass)
  5. A la mémoire de Witold Lutoslawski (1994; 2 horns, 2 trumpets)

Performers: Sarah Schwartz (violin), Mary Whitaker (violin), David Bursack (viola), Dan Barrett (cello), Richard Sosinsky (string bass), Janet Axelrod (flute, piccolo), Jackie Leclair (oboe), Anthony Burr (clarinets), Michael Lowenstein (bass clarinet), Bodhan Hilash (contrabass clarinet), Daniel Shelly (bassoon), Matthew Bender (contrabassoon), Monica Ellis (contrabassoon), Susan Cook (soprano saxophone), John Engebretson (alto saxophone), Shawn Tracy (tenor saxophone), Matthew Cashman (baritone saxophone), Wayne Dumaine (trumpet), Terry Szor (trumpet), Tom Hoyt (trumpet), Michael Seltzer (trombone), Chris Washburn (trombone), Gregory Evans (horn), Matthew Scheffelmann (horn), Steve Forman (tuba), Pablo Rieppi (percussion), Robert McEwan (percussion), David Rozenblatt (percussion)

Playing time: 55'

Recording dates: April, September, October 1996 (New York) & September 1996 (Chicago)

Although including the bass clarinet "concerto" Échange, which I have always liked, this program does not have quite the sustained appeal or dynamism in performance as this ensemble's Vandenburg recordings. It is nonetheless worth noting, especially as part of the Mode series. The saxophone quartet Xas probably deserves placement on a program devoted to that medium.

Other recordings in the continuing Mode series:

Xenakis: Ensemble Music - 1
Plektó / Eonta / Akanthos / Rebonds / N'Shima
ST-X Ensemble USA - Charles Zachary Bornstein
Mode 53
Xenakis & Varèse
Dämmerschein / Persephassa / La Déesse Athéna / Amériques
Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic - Juan Pablo Izquierdo
Mode 58
Xenakis: Works for Piano
Aki Takahashi
Mode 80

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T. M. McComb