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Press Releases Sonic and rhythmic invention at the heart of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra's series of Total Immersion

Category: Radio 3
Date: 10.12.2008
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Stockhausen, Murail and Xenakis are the first three composers to be celebrated in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra's new Total Immersion days.

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This in-depth series of concerts, films and talks at London's Barbican Centre takes place across three Saturdays during the opening months of 2009 (17 January, 7 February and 7 March).

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It offers fascinating insights into the lives and music of these iconic cultural figures who are renowned for their pioneering invention and a shared fascination of sound – and how it works within in a space.

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Featuring a new documentary about Xenakis, alongside other biographical films, the extensive programme of events explores some of the factors which shaped each composer's output.

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A particular highlight of the talks is Tristan Murail's personal account revealing his approach to composition and his influences.

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The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra is joined by conductors David Robertson, Pascal Rophé and Martyn Brabbins, soloists Christian Lindberg, Rolf Hind and Nicolas Hodges and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Singers during the three Total Immersion days which include many rarely heard works.

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Continuing the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO's ongoing relationship with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, their resident Percussion and New Music Ensembles also perform during the series.

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Concerts from the series are broadcast on Radio 3 and online via the station's website.

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Total Immersion launches on 17 January with Stockhausen, whose death in 2007 pre-empted musical celebrations around what would have been his 80th birthday this year.

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The day opens with a landmark documentary about the composer's life, first broadcast as part of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Omnibus series in 1980, introduced by director Barrie Gavin.

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The concerts combine both musical and visual elements: In Litanei 97 the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Singers enact a priestly ritual, they process on and off stage, dressed in floor-length pale blue robes and Japanese socks; and in Inori, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra is joined by two mime artists, including Stockhausen's long-term collaborator Kathinka Pasveer, performing on a specially constructed stage set above the orchestra.

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The work celebrates the meditative potential of expressive movements in gestures created by the composer.

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Bringing the day to a close is Hymnen, a two-hour tape composition featuring recordings of national anthems from around the world.

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It is one of Stockhausen's most seminal works and its individual movements are dedicated respectively to Boulez, Pousseur, Cage and Berio.

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Musicians ranging from German electronic group Kraftwerk to Icelandic singer Björk have cited the influence of its unifying ideal of universal harmony and global humanism.

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Tristan Murail (b.1947) launches the day's events around his music and, in conversation with Julian Anderson, talks about his life and work from his early years as a pupil of Messiaen to his current position as leading exponent of the French Spectralist school.

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His pioneering explorations of sound and its perception are demonstrated across the day's concerts from those written for smaller ensemble to the monumental Terre d'ombre written for orchestra and electronics.

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The Guildhall New Music Ensemble's programme includes the UK premiere of one of his more recent compositions, Pour adoucir le cours du temps written for 18 instruments, MIDI keyboard and computer.

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Concluding the first Total Immersion series, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra celebrates the music of Greek composer and architect Xenakis (1922-2001) on 7 March.

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In a series of rhythmic spectacles the Guildhall Percussion Ensemble performs a programme of works which demonstrate the composer's quest for new sounds and his passion for breathtaking rhythmic patterns.

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Rebonds uses bongos, tom-toms, bass drums, one tumba, and a set of five wood blocks with the tuning of both the skins and woodblocks set to extend over a very wide range and Okho features three djembes.

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Persephassa is performed by six percussion players using an array of instruments and sound effects including sirens, maracas, pebbles, drums, cymbals and gongs: each member of the ensemble is set at a different point across the stage of the Barbican Hall and accents or imitative rhythms are passed between the musicians.

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The breadth of Xenakis' influence across 20th century cultural life is explored in a new documentary from the Greek Film Centre featuring interviews with the composer's widow and daughter Françoise and Makhi Xenakis and through a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ documentary profile.

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Xenakis also worked as an architect with Le Corbusier and the film Building Sights Europe follows Xenakis as he returns to see a project he undertook with this giant of 20th century architecture.

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This is put into context through the Barbican Art Gallery's exhibition Le Corbusier – The Art Of Architecture, a major survey of his works which runs in tandem with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO Total Immersion day.

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Paul Hughes, General Manager of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra said: "The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra is a renowned champion of contemporary music and these three composers were chosen to launch the Total Immersion series because of their pioneering musical spirit. We offer audiences a unique opportunity to hear more unfamiliar works in the context of this fascinating and wide-ranging survey."

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The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra's Learning department has also been creating projects around the three days of events.

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The orchestra's popular Family Orchestra scheme is open to all families and will perform a specially-composed work influenced by the music of Stockhausen.

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Notes to Editors

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Le Corbusier – The Art of Architecture, Barbican Art Gallery, London 19 February-24 May 2009.

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Listings

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Saturday 17 January 2009, 10.30am, Barbican Centre Silk Street, London, Mozart Room, Level 4

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Introduction to Stockhausen and his music

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Tuning In – Director Barrie Gavin introduces his ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ documentary on the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, placing it in its musical and social context.

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Saturday 17 January 2009, 1.00pm, Jerwood Hall, LSO St. Luke's

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Stockhausen Klavierstücke Nos. I-IV, VII, IX

Stockhausen Choral No. 1/9

Stockhausen Chöre Für Doris

Stockhausen Litanei 97

Stockhausen Adieu for wind quintet 1966

Stockhausen Kontra-Punkte 1952

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Nicolas Hodges – piano

Guildhall New Music Ensemble

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Singers

Richard Baker – conductor

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Choral and chamber music including the amazing Litanei 97 which instructs the singers to process on and off stage, stamp their feet and dress in floor-length pale blue robes and Japanese socks. ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO regular Nicolas Hodges will perform as selection from the Klavierstücke, written for the composer's first wife, who also served as inspiration for his exquisite settings of Verlaine, Chöre Für Doris.

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Saturday 17 January 2009, 4.30pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, Mozart Room, Level 4

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Listening to Music – How our brains listen to, understand and remember music.

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Professor Susan Hallam, Dean of Faculty of Policy and Society Institute of Education, University of London

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6.30pm, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

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³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO Learning Foyer Performance

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO Family Orchestra perform a work inspired by the music of Stockhausen.

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Saturday 17 January 2009, 7.00pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

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Broadcast on Radio 3 in Hear And Now, January 24, 10.30pm

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Stockhausen Inori

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David Robertson – conductor

Kathinka Pasveer – mime

Alain Louafi – mime

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Prayer-like gestures interpreted in performance by a mime and dancer, lie at Inori's core. "Dance is everything that a human being is able to do musically with any part of the body," the composer observed. Inori celebrates the meditative potential of expressive movements, presented in fine detail by the two soloists and mirrored in the response of two orchestral groups. Stockhausen's exquisite work will be introduced from the stage by David Robertson.

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Saturday 17 January 2009, 9.00pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

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Broadcast on Radio 3 in Hear And Now, January 24 10.30pm-1.00am

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Stockhausen Hymnen

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With its collage techniques, synthesis of "found" national anthems and use of electronic sound modification, Stockhausen's Hymnen remains a seminal work more than four decades after its completion. The two-hour tape composition, presented here in the four-track tape version of 1966-7, has influenced everyone from German electronic group Kraftwerk to Icelandic singer Björk with its unifying ideal of universal harmony and global humanism.

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Saturday 7 February 2009, 11.00am Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, Mozart Room, Level 4

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Tristan Murail talks about his life and work with Julian Anderson. Bois Flotté, a film of Murail's composition played by Ensemble Les Temps Modernes as visualised by video artist Hervé Bailly-Basin.

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Saturday 7 February 2009, 2.00pm Jerwood Hall, LSO St. Luke's, London

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Tristan Murail: Winter Fragments – ensemble and live electronics.

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Tristan Murail: Territories de l'oubli – solo piano

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Hugues Dufourt: Hommage a Charles Negre – 10 players.

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Tristan Murail: Treize couleurs du soleil couchant – flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano

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Murail: Pour adoucir le cours de temp (UK premiere) – 19 players and computer sounds

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Guildhall New Music Ensemble

Pierre-André Valade – conductor

Rolf Hind – piano

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Murail's pioneering explorations of sound and its perception can be traced through this essential programme of Spectral Music, from the early breakthrough work, Treize couleurs du soleil couchant, to Pour adoucir le cours du temps, written in 2005 for 18 instruments, MIDI keyboard and computer.

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Saturday 7 February 2009, 5.00pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, Mozart Room, Level 4

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Music And Acoustics: Tristan Murail in conversation with Julian Anderson

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Saturday 7 February 2009, 7.00pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, Barbican Foyer

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Students from the Guildhall have been commissioned to write three short pieces influences by Spectral music. The works will be performed in the Barbican foyer by eight musicians from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO and GSMD and recorded for subsequent broadcast in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 3's Hear and Now.

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Saturday 7 February 2009, 7.30pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

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Broadcast on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 3 in Hear and Now, February 7, 10.30pm

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Tristan Murail: Gondwana

Tristan Murail: Time and Again

Tristan Murail: ...amaribus et dulcis aquis...*

Tristan Murail: Terre d'ombre

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Pascal Rophé – conductor

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Singers

James Morgan – Conductor*

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony – Orchestra

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Gondwana's complex blend of acoustic and electronic sounds opens ears to fresh, unimagined sonorities. Elemental energy explodes from the depths of Time and Again, another Murail masterpiece of sonic invention and striking originality. Total immersion in Murail's art draws to an awe-inspiring close with his Terre d'ombre, a monumental score for orchestra and electronics completed in 2005.

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Saturday 7 March 2009, 10.30am Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, Cinema 2, Level 4

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Something Rich And Strange: The Life And Music Of Iannis Xenakis – A ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ documentary profile of Iannis Xenakis, his music and his influences.

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Building Sights Europe: Iannis Xenakis

A film following Iannis Xenakis as he returns to the Dominican monastery Le Couvent Sainte Marie de La Tourette near Lyon, on which he collaborated with Le Corbusier.

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Saturday 7 March 2009, 1.00pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

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Xenakis: Rebonds

Xenakis: Persephassa

Xenakis: Okho

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Guildhall Percussion – Ensemble

Catherine Ring – Percussion

Richard Benjafield – director

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Persephassa, first performed at the historic Iranian desert site of Persepolis in 1969, vividly evokes the life-changing power of the goddess Persephone. Six percussionists bring Xenakis's miraculous score to life from separate places among the audience. Rebonds and Okho illuminate the composer's insatiable quest for new sounds, propelled by a pulsating mix of African instruments and breathtaking rhythmic patterns.

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Saturday 7 March 2009, 2.30pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, Mozart Room, Level 4

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Talk – Music and Architecture

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Saturday 7 March 2009, 4.00pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, Cinema 2, Level 4

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Charisma X: A brand-new documentary from the Greek Film Centre, including interviews with the composer's widow and daughter, Franςoise and Makhi Xenakis, long-time friend Sharon Kanach, composer Curtis Roads and others.

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Saturday 7 March 2009, 6.30pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

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Iannis Xenakis: ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO Learning Foyer Performance

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The culmination of a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ SO Learning project inspired by the music of Iannis Xenakis.

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Saturday 7 March 2009, 7.00pm Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London

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Broadcast on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 3 in Performance On 3, 10 March, 7.00pm

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Xenakis Tracées

Xenakis Anastenaria – UK premiere of trilogy

Xenakis Sea-Nymphs*

Xenakis Mists

Xenakis Nuits*

Xenakis Troorkh

Xenakis Antikhthon

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³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra

Martyn Brabbins – conductor

Stephen Betteridge – conductor*

Christian Lindberg – trombone

Rolf Hind – piano

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Singers

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Described by Olivier Messiaen as "a hero unlike any other", Iannis Xenakis produced works of extraordinary originality, spun from his questing imagination to form complex structures of rhythmic patterns, polyphonic melodies and remarkable instrumental and vocal textures. The composer's tireless search for new expressive means, which drew on his training as an architect and his work as assistant to Le Corbusier, led to pieces such as Nuits in which voices explore the phonetic sounds of Sumerian and ancient Persian.

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³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 3 Publicity

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