Herma (Xenakis)

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Herma is the first major piano piece by Iannis Xenakis . It was composed in 1961 and was premiered in Tokyo on February 2, 1962 by Yūji Takahashi , to whom the work is dedicated . Because of the enormous ambitus and the rapid speed, it is one of the most difficult pieces of piano music .

During a stay in Japan in April 1961, Xenakis met the pianist Takahashi. After returning to Paris , he began to write at Herma , using compositional principles that focus on the stochastics and equations of Boolean algebra . Each tone is assigned a tone duration and a place in the note sequence through stochastic processes from specially compiled tone stocks. Xenakis called the logical principle behind the piece “symbolic music”.

Takahashi himself said that Herma was strange, intense, radical and fiery music and described the audience's reactions to the premiere as ambivalent: while some responded enthusiastically to the piece, others found it painful. In fact, the piece places high demands on the technical ability of the pianist as well as the attention of the listener. The notes are continuously distributed across all registers throughout the piece and follow one another at an immense tempo ; in some places around 20 tones per second sound. There are also differentiated dynamics and pedal instructions . Repeatedly inserted, longer pauses serve to increase tension.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The composer's résumé on iannis-xenakis.org ( Memento from January 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

literature