# Is Xenakis superior to most other avant-garde composers?



## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

I am wondering if a case can be made that Xenakis' music is better for you than many other avant-garde composers. I would put him up there with Alfred Schnittke. A lot of people who compose in this style just kind of don't sound as right to me. Is there something in the mathematical interests of Xenakis that makes his music experimental yet somehow more pleasant, or was that just his aesthetic?






Xenakis - Mists






Xenakis evryali


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2016)

IMHO, the only contemporaries of Xenakis to surpass him were Stockhausen, Cage, and maybe Ligeti and Boulez. Schnittke is great but significantly further behind.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

He's only second to the Messiaen-Ligeti tie as my favorite post-WW2 composer, and I prefer his electroacoustic works to the ones I've heard by Stockhausen.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

Yeah - Xenakis packs a huge punch and is very exciting. His music is also really satisfyingly put together - strong sense of direction, no fat. Dunno if he's superior, but he's in the top flight


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## Harold in Columbia (Jan 10, 2016)

I kind of feel like the gods created Xenakis so that Gérard Grisey would have something to improve on:


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Harold in Columbia said:


> I kind of feel like the gods created Xenakis so that Gérard Grisey would have something to improve on:


I don't hear much of a similarity between Xenakis and Grisey. Like the best composers, the former remains inimitable. His sole contemporary peer is probably Richard Barrett.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I think Xenakis piano pieces are generally interesting works and to me so much more enjoyable than Stockhausen's piano works which are from my subjective view some of the ugliest pieces of music I've listened to. Both composers were obviously cutting edge, and both wrote some pieces that are good enough that I respect their abilities to a certain extent. But some of the music just comes across to me as a bunch of searching around with technology with a lack of convincing results. 

Personally I would hesitate to place either on par with a Ligeti or Schnittke.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Harold in Columbia said:


> I kind of feel like the gods created Xenakis so that Gérard Grisey would have something to improve on:


I really enjoyed that performance, thanks for the link.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I think Xenakis' music is on par with all the experimentalism music. To me, the experimentalism school were more interested in soundscapes - the effect of organized sound that technically could be considered as music (but of course music is much more than that).


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

tdc said:


> I think Xenakis piano pieces are generally interesting works and to me so much more enjoyable than Stockhausen's piano works which are from my subjective view some of the ugliest pieces of music I've listened to. Both composers were obviously cutting edge, and both wrote some pieces that are good enough that I respect their abilities to a certain extent. But some of the music just comes across to me as a bunch of searching around with technology with a lack of convincing results.
> 
> Personally I would hesitate to place either on par with a Ligeti or Schnittke.


Schnittke is a second rate composer.


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## Adam Weber (Apr 9, 2015)

Morimur said:


> Schnittke is a second rate composer.


Why is Schnittke a second rate composer?


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## Guest (Mar 23, 2016)

Morimur said:


> Schnittke is a second rate composer.


At his best, he could be first rate, IMO, but when you muddy the first symphony, first concerto grosso, etc with pretty standard pieces like, say, symphonies 6 and 7, I'd give an overall A-. I struggle to call him "second rate" when I love some of those pieces so much, so I like to say he's an A- to Xenakis' A++, knowing that he'll check his GPA and he won't know the difference


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

What do you Xenakis fans think of his late works - the late string quartets for example? Bleak, no glissandi. Tetora, Ergma. I find them really hard to enjoy.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I liked Mists. I thought Xenakis was much more "out there" but it was surprisingly easy on the ears and "impressionistic" piece. My perception might have been influenced by the title but I don't think it's just that...


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