obit: Iannis Xenakis

Of interest to some folk on this list:

http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,500306615-500491847-503432247-0,00.html
   
   Innovative Greek composer Iannis Xenakis dead at 78
   
   By CECILE ROUX, Associated Press
   
   PARIS (February 4, 2001 1:52 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
   Composer Iannis Xenakis, known as one of contemporary music's most
   erudite innovators, died Sunday in his Paris home, the Association of
   Friends of Xenakis said. He was 78.
   
   Also a mathematician and engineer, Xenakis first attracted attention
   as an architect, working with Le Corbusier on the French designer's
   famous pavilion for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair.
   
   For the fair, Xenakis composed an electronic work that brought
   recognition to his musical talent: "Concerto PH," whose sole sound
   source was amplified burning charcoal.
   
   Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Xenakis would be
   remembered for compiling "one of the most progressive chapters in the
   history of music."
   
   Claude Helleu, secretary-general of the Association of Friends of
   Xenakis, called the composer, "one of the greatest geniuses of this
   century."
   
   "He connected his notions of mathematics and his profession of
   architecture to a unique oeuvre that we're realizing has greater and
   greater importance," Helleu said.
   
   Born in Romania on May 29, 1922 to wealthy Greek parents, Xenakis
   moved to Greece at age 10. He earned an engineering degree at Athens
   Polytechnic.
   
   When World War II began, Xenakis joined the resistance against German
   occupation of Greece and suffered an injury that caused him to lose
   sight in one eye.
   
   Under the postwar Greek government, Xenakis was condemned to death in
   1945, prompting him to flee the country and begin a new life in
   France. The death sentence was lifted 29 years later.
   
   In Paris and Switzerland, Xenakis took up music, studying with
   composers Hermann Scherchen, Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen.
   
   "We will not forget that Iannis Xenakis ... chose France for deploying
   his talent," French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said in a condolence
   statement.
   
   Xenakis is credited with having invented "stochastic music," composed
   with computers and based on mathematical probability systems.
   
   One of his electro-acoustic manipulations is the eerie yet delicate
   "Bohor," using sounds derived from jingling jewelry and coupling
   freight cars. He is also widely recognized for percussion-ensemble
   works, notably "The Pleiades."
   
   Honored around the world, Xenakis won Sweden's Polar Music Prize -
   along with Stevie Wonder - in 1999. The annual prize goes to one
   classical and one popular musician.
   
   He became a member of France's Academie des Beaux Arts in 1984, won
   Japan's Kyoto Prize in 1997 and Italy's Critic's Prize of Turin in
   1990.
   
   Xenakis is survived by his wife, Francoise, and his daughter, Mahi.
   Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.


--
Sean M. Burke  [email protected]  http://www.spinn.net/~sburke/