Evryali

"Evryali" (the name of one of the Gorgon sisters, but also Greek for "open sea") is a piece for solo piano composed by Iannis Xenakis in 1973. It is based on a technique Xenakis invented in early 1970s, called arborescences—proliferations of melodic lines created from a generative contour (Harley 2004, 72).

"Evryali" was Xenakis' second major work for piano solo. It was composed for, and dedicated to, pianist Marie-Françoise Bucquet. Conventional notation is used throughout the score, however, instead of using two or three staves as is customary for piano scores, Xenakis frequently employs four and five staves. Numerous passages are impossible to play as written either because it is physically impossible to reach the notes, or, in one case, because the written note is not available on any piano (this particular difficulty was rectified in a later edition of the work). Therefore, the performer has to create a reduction of the piece, omitting some notes, transposing others, etc., in order to make it playable (Hill 1975, 18–19; Harley 2003, 80).

The piece began as a graphic design, from which the arborescences were later traced. The music consists almost entirely of a limited number distinct kinds of texture. Xenakis scholar James Harley distinguishes five such textures: fixed rhythmic passages, stochastic clouds, polyphonic arborescences, monophonic waves and silence (Harley 2004, 80; Chung 2003, 102. Chung offers different names for the textures.)

"Evryali" is connected to earlier works, particularly "Synaphaï" (1969), certain passages of which led to the creation of the arborescence technique (Harley 2004, 72). Certain passages from "Evryali" were later reused, with some modification, in the chamber work "Dikhthas" (1979) (Harley 2004, 127).

References

* Chung, Immin. "Mathematical and Architectural Concepts Manifested in Iannis Xenakis's Piano Music", dissertation, University of Texas, 2003. [http://www.imminchung.com/downloads/Xenakis.pdf Available online.]
* Harley, James. "Xenakis: His Life in Music", Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0415971454
* Hill, Peter. "Xenakis and the Performer", Tempo 112 (1975), 17–22.

External links

* Score excerpts accompanied by sound, at James Harley's website: [http://www.uoguelph.ca/~digimus/xenakis/pages/fig82.html bars 82-83] , [http://www.uoguelph.ca/~digimus/xenakis/pages/fig81.html bars 102-106] , [http://www.uoguelph.ca/~digimus/xenakis/pages/fig83.html chart of formal outline] .