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Article: Toward an interpretation of Xenakis's Nomos alpha.(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Perspectives of New Music
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Perspectives of New Music. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Art, and above all, music has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expression. It must aim through fixations which are landmarks to draw towards a total exaltation in which the individual mingles, losing his consciousness in a truth immediate, rare, enormous, and perfect. If a work of art succeeds in this undertaking even for a single moment, it attains its goal.
--Iannis Xenakis
0. INTRODUCTION
0.1 NOMOS ALPHA
FOR MANY OF US, Iannis Xenakis's 1966 solo cello composition Nomos alpha is one of these works of art. It gathers us as listeners into a sonic world which ...