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The city at Glasgow seems to be becoming adept atpicking up artistic plums. Two days alter Maylest anotherlestival begins: the tirst everXenakis Festival. held in honour olhis 65th birthday.
Who. you may well ask. is Xenakis? To mostpeople. unheard ol and unpronouncable. But this Rumanian born composer. brought up in Greece and living in France since 1947. is without doubt one ot the most innovative composers otthis century. Initially trained as an engineer. his path into music is as unconventional as the music itsell. Describing his work. he says. ‘I think I have introduced into musicthe concept ol mass events. that is. sounds provided by a great number at individual sounds. and what was importantwas notany more the individual sound. but the mass in itselt'.
Aprominent ligure in the Resistance Movement. Xenakis tled lrom his death-sentence in Greece to France where. despite his lack of musical training. the great French composer Olivier Messiaen unhesitatingly took him on as a student. At the same time he lound a job as an engineerwith the architect Le Corbusier. and music. maths and architecture began to come togetherlorXenakis. On his
we don'tbleeding do ' anything.Sowhydon‘twe?
Alright. tonight we're
talking aboutHicaragua.
Little bitpolitical. little bit 1 dangerous— Get on with the funny stuff Ben. Vefy easy. Benelit Night 'Of satirical. very satirical Nicaragua. King's Theatre. llne-up.talking about ; Glasgow. Sundav24 May. Nicaragua, 1:03 you do, i great line-up. lots ollun, don’tyou? Everybody does. l Iotsot laughs. miname's
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Why don'twe just getup and go along to a Benelit Nightlor Nicaragua? It would be so simple. So
we alldo it. we all know Ben Elton. I’llbelhere. about Nicaragua. everybody ‘ "tank-YOU. 9006 flight- knows about Nicaragua. But
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birthday. Friday 29 May. the BBC SSO play Metastaseis. his
_ lirst published piece. Scored meticulouslytor 61 players. all
61 have a dillerent part. In this. his graphic. sweeping plan at
the string glissandi (basically sliding scales. but withthe gradient ol each calculated individually) shows the shape that he used tor the architecture at the lamous Philips
Pavilion lor the Brussels World Fair. (See picture).
. Kelvingrove Park. Glasgow lrom1-8pm.
Computers also leature in Xenakis' music. Alter establishing the shape at a work graphically. he goes onto work out the sounds through the calculus ol probabilities.
Realising that there is a “traditional public‘ torclassical music. he leels that “the new music is a new mode at expression. which the young are more readyto accept‘: 'Nowadays children play with computers lrorn theirearliest years. thus they tamiliarise themselves with them more easily.‘
The Festival will also leature works by composers thathave .
been at inlluence in Xenakis‘ lite and. in turn. composers ol
the younger generation that he has inlluenced. There are also
various other complementary events. includinglilms. displays and a lecture by Xenakis authority Nouritza Matossian. An exhibition at the Henry Wood Hall showsjust how Xenakis‘ compositional techniques work. And. capping it all will be the presence throughout ol Xenakis himsell. (Carol Main)
ZERO ZERO
Scots hard rock band Zero Zero. lronted by Stevie Docherty. is one oleight groups who will be in perlormance at Radio Clyde's 10th Annual Kelvingrove Free Music Festival. A crowd at more than 7000 is expectedlor the lestival which takes place on Sunday 24 May at
Trying to keep his head is Oscar McLennan. comedian with the yondery eyes and marvelloust macabre. brooding comic monologues. He opensthe Traverse Theatre. Edinburgh's new season at cabaret on Fri 15 and Salts May. See Theatre.
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.w "i NANCY SPERO ?( i American artist Nancy 51. Spero visited Edinburgh lor g thelirsttimelorher exhibitionjust opened at the Fruitmarket. At 60. she __ isawoman olenergyand ‘ {A determination—she has _. . :_ ‘ "‘ struggled toryearslor 4’ '.
recognition at women
} artists: ‘lt'sthe storyol women in general—absent lrom history. absent lmm direction. absent lromthe seats at power.“ Her
'. commitmenttodoingthings
'a woman‘s way' has not prevented her lrom having a lull lite. Married to an artist. she has ‘three male children' and has worked continuously. Some olthe work in this exhibition has nevershown betore—like the Vietnam paintings. lragile but powerlul statements against war.
MAYFEST ‘ THE FINAL WEEK
SEE PAGE 5 ‘
Barcelona bubble-conjurer Pep Bou. See Maylest Diary page 8.
The List 15 — 38 Muy‘l