Iannis XENAKIS
“La légende d’Eer”

“Crucial reissue of the most important, sonically devastating Xenakis electronic work (previously issued by the now defunct Montaigne label). “New stereo mix from the original master tape. La légende d’Eer is a powerful 7-channel electroacoustic composition which Xenakis created in 1977-78 to be played in ’Le Diatope,’ a curvaceous architectural construction designed by the composer, together with a visual component including laser lights. This ’multi-media’ work was composed for the opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, where it was performed for three months and seen by thousands of people. The sound materials of a La légende d’Eer stem from three sources: instrumental sounds, noises, and electronically generated sounds. The work suggests an initial departure, a journey, and a final return. Xenakis surrounds the work with a compilation of five texts, reflecting or reacting upon each other across the distances in time, space, and culture which separate them. This new stereo mix was created by Gerard Pape — director of Xenakis’ CCMIX studio in Paris — from the original analog master tape. The analog master was transferred at high-resolution 96khz/24-bit sound for the optimum quality, revealing details not heard in the previous stereo CD release.” Richard Scott’s review in The Wire hardly exaggerates: “It is difficult to think of another contemporary composition which carries the sheer force of ’The Legend of Eer.’ It is a gigantic, awesome, staggering piece; certainly I haven’t heard anything to touch it with electronic music’s short, if dense, history.”