Conductor Juan Pablo Izquierdo has had much experience directing Xenakis's music and other modern masterworks. Xenakis was invited by Izquierdo and Carnegie Mellon University for an extended visit featuring a festival of his music. All three works were prepared and recorded with the composer's supervisionl. An energy-charged, volcanic composition from the first note to the last, its massive contrasting blocks of sound give the aura of light through music. At the climax, the full power of the orchestra is unleashed in one of the most expansive and impressive passages in the entire orchestral repertoire.
Excruciated strings slide between piercing winds and rumbling brass.
The result is a queasy monumentality, robust romanticism excavated by fear, a turbid premonition of new emotional realms. The quantity of event squeezed into ten minutes is stunning. The violence done to classical propriety is immense, yet deployment of symphonic resources ensures that Xenakis emerges like their aspirant to the classical legacy. In contrast, the percussion piece Persephassa is bombastic and hollow. Issuing a recording of street events in Teheran during the 1979 revolution would be more politically admirable - and probably more musically interesting.