Iannis Xenakis – Electro-Acoustic Music

Be careful not to blow up your stereo with the end of Side A. Glad I was close to the volume knob ;-)

Pretty sure that's "6-19-70," not "8-12-70," etched in the Side 1 runout groove. It looks like the "19" was first entered as "18," then corrected.

More on the ever-evolving story of Bohor I.

The following anecdote was found online, at:

http://www.mombu.com/music/music/t-xenakis-bohor-the-last-time-5106581.html

Its author's name & credentials:

Bob Ludwig
Gateway Mastering & DVD
Portland, ME
http://www.gatewaymastering.com

"I am a mastering engineer, we used to cut the vinyl disks and now we make CDs and DVDs. It is the final creative step in the record making process.

I got to work personally with Maestro Xenakis in 1972 when I cut the (US) Nonesuch (H-71246) disk "Iannis Xenakis, Electro-Acoustic Music". They licensed the disk from Disques Erato in . They no longer have this license so there would be no further re-issues of this through Nonesuch Records. The disk has interesting liner notes from James Mansback Brody on the back. We used a 1/4" non-Dolby CCIR tape copy of the Erato master from which their original disk was cut.

I will never forget when Xenakis came to my mastering studio for the session, we had a great time. Under his exact supervision, he had me manually slowly raise the volume of the last few minutes in a giant crescendo! It was difficult to cut into vinyl! This artistic manipulation, under the direction of the composer, was NOT on the original Erato disk, nor do I believe on any subsequent issues! The ending DOES cut off on purpose!

Another difference between my cut on Nonesuch and the original vinyl discs (CDs do not have a problem with this) is on Concret P-H II. This is filled with extreme high frequencies which could trip the circuit breakers in the cutting system to prevent the cutterhead from burning up! The Disques Erato version uses a high-frequency limiter on their cut to prevent circuit breaker tripping. Maestro Xenakis preferred my solution which was to lower the level of this cut drastically (-10dB or so) to allow ALL the high harmonics to be cut into the disk. We found that the apparent level of the cut, even lowered -10dB, was not much of an issue compared to the full harmonic structure being engraved in the grooves.

For me, Bohor I remains one of the cornerstones of 20th Century music.

I go back to it over and over."

Every time I listen to Bohor, it completely blows my mind to think that this piece of music was composed in 1962. I can't help but think that this must have been one of the very first pieces of 'drone' music released on a record, and I'd imagine that it's been a huge influence on everyone that's been pioneering that kind of music right through until the present day.

It's a dark and atmospheric piece of music that never fails to leave me completely hypnotised for its entire 21 minute duration. Apparently Xenakis was influenced by the traditional music of Japan after travelling there the year before he composed Bohor, and the source sounds are "a Laotian mouth organ known as the khen and various bracelets from Eastern countries". Even although it was put together using electronic methods (tape manipulation), for me it sounds very organic and there's nothing about the song that's strikingly 'electronic' sounding, unlike the other pieces on the record.

Xenakis apparently never said much about the song, preferring that the listener react to it in their own way. I always get the weird feeling and image of standing alone inside an empty church or cathedral, listening to its bells chiming.

This song alone would probably be enough to convince most people that Xenakis was a genius and a pioneer. It certainly did for me.