Hamburg, Elbphilharmonie, Kleiner Saal

A dynamic programme for the 100th birthday of Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis - Phlegra (1975)
Pascal Dusapin - Cascando (1997)
Iannis Xenakis - Dhipli Zyia (1952)
Iannis Xenakis - Rebonds B (1988)
Iannis Xenakis - Waarg (1988)
Maurice Ohana - Sundown dances (1990)
ensemble unitedberlin
Roland Hayrabedian, conductor

The great fascination that emanates from the works of the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis, who died in Paris in 2001, remains unbroken to this day. Like Stockhausen, he was regarded since the 1960s as an artist who stood for the most unconditional rethinking of all musical parameters - and it was certainly no coincidence that the great interest in architecture, mathematical precision and spatial forms of experimentation always linked the two composers.

Of course, it was the large orchestral works with which Xenakis also became known in Germany from the 1950s onwards; he was first performed in Donaueschingen as early as 1955. Much less frequently heard are his smaller-scale musical formats, which are characterised by an inexhaustible wealth of instrumentation and instrument combinations, but also by their musical individuality and virtuoso imagination.

The ensemble unitedberlin, now making its debut in the NDR das neue werk concert series, brings some of these outstanding chamber works to the Elbphilharmonie for the first time, complemented by pieces by Maurice Ohana and Pascal Dusapin - a special sound festival for the Small Hall and a tribute to Xenakis' 100th birthday.

Hamburger Abendblatt - Elbphilharmonie: Starke Hommage an eine Avantgarde-Legende