Iannis Xenakis

Introduction
Iannis Xenakis was a Greek-French composer born in Romania on May 29th, 1922. Early on in his life, he moved to Greece only to flee in 1947 and eventually became a naturalized citizen of France. Xenakis was also an architect and engineer who helped pioneer the use of electronic and computer music. He helped to push forward the idea of using mathematical models in music like set and game theory and stochastic processes. Xenakis used his architecture knowledge to help designing spaces for specific music compositions and performances.

Work Analysis
The work I will be analyzing is Akrata for 8 winds and 8 brass. Akrata was composed over the span of 2 years and was completed in 1965. The word Akrata is a Greek term meaning "pure" and the music matches the meaning. The work starts out very eerie and plain with repeating notes throughout the brass section. There is no apparent melody or theme throughout the whole piece and at some points, the piece has measures of silence that represent music as well instead of separating sections or representing rests. Towards the end of the piece (6:15) we have an incredibly loud and abrupt moment of most of the instruments coming together to form a loud formation of different pitches, notes, and speeds. At the end instead of getting repeated staccato notes, we hear more long sustained notes, especially from the woodwinds.

Comparisons
Generally speaking, Iannis Xenakis can be compared to a number of composers who also used set theory as a method of composing. Xenakis was very familiar with works of Debussy, Bartók, and Stravinsky and took lessons with Nadia Boulanger who also taught Andrew Imbrie and was good friends with Stravinsky. I would also compare Xenakis to composer John Cage because they both looked at silence during a piece as music and both incorporated moments of silence in their pieces.

Observations
Looking at composers like John Cage and Xenakis, I am starting to get an idea of why the "what is art?" and "Is this music?" questions still exist. Personally, I do not think I enjoyed these pieces in a subjective way but I am able to understand the usage of set theory and now, the idea of a nonexisting melody throughout a piece.