An engineer as much as a composer Iannis Xenakis combines music, architecture and mathematics. Iannis Xenakis and the Percussions de Strasbourg collaborated on Persephassa, a work that places the audience at the centre of a circle formed by the musicians. There, the body of the listener becomes instrument, receptacle and relay of the music: a real sensory experience. Their second collaboration was Pleiades, one of Xenakis’ masterpieces, for which an instrument, the sixxen, was created especially.
I love percussion music, and the moments where the musicians lock together and then fly apart again are delicious.