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VNM Festival 2022
METAXENAKIS: Day 3
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For Vancouver New Music’s 2022 festival we celebrate Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), a visionary artist, architect and philosopher who made an indelible imprint on the arts in the twenty-first century. As part of a transcontinental centenary celebration of Xenakis’ life and work, this three-day festival will offer six performances by local and international artists inspired by Xenakis’ artistic and philosophical legacy.
To celebrate the centennial anniversary of the life and the works of Iannis Xenakis world renowned percussion virtuoso Kuniko from Japan programs his signature solo pieces in percussion (Psappha & Rebonds a. b. ).
“Kuniko passes this rite triumphantly. Her effortless, glitch-free technique and ability to manipulate mallets and sticks to seemingly coax melodies from non-melodic instruments are bound to humble aspiring and established percussionists alike.”
– Gramophone
Kuniko Kato’s performance is supported in part by the Japan Foundation
Giorgio Magnanensi will diffuse Xenakis’ Hibiki-Hana-Ma for 8-channel tape.
Hibiki-Hana-Ma was composed for the 1970 Osaka World’s Fair, and was created with the UPIC system, a graphical input device that Xenakis invented, using recordings of an orchestra, a biwa, and a snare drum.
“Hibiki-Hana-Ma” (“reverberation-flower-interval”) is just under eighteen minutes in length and was originally composed for twelve tracks, later mixed down to eight for concert diffusion. The music was recorded and assembled at the electronic music studio of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) in Tokyo. Xenakis had access to an orchestra there, and much of the material comes from orchestral sonorities (typical textures from existing scores with emphasis on strings, particularly glissandi and natural harmonics). To this he added the Japanese plucked biwa and some percussion sounds. As in the tape part of Kraanerg, there are varying degrees of studio manipulation of the instrumental sounds, from virtually none to so much that the original sources are unrecognizable. There is a much wider range of sounds presented in “Hibiki-Hana-Ma” than in the earlier ballet, which is understandable considering that the tape is the only sound source. The possibility of deploying up to twelve channels enabled Xenakis to build up layers and complex superpositions of sonorities.
The music is put together from blocks of material spliced into the different channels, in a similar process to “Kraanerg”, extended from three or four layers to twelve. There are many sudden shifts of sonority, density, and intensity, and various layers are brusquely cut in or out. Major articulation points serve to loosely divide the piece into four sections.
– James Harley, “Xenakis, his life in music”
Kuniko Kato is one of the world’s leading percussion virtuosos from Japan. Her astonishing virtuosity, exquisite musical insight and expressive yet elegant performance style continues to attract not only audiences, but established conductors and composers too. She is renowned for her flawless technique when playing both keyboard and percussion instruments, which blends seamlessly with her profound musical intelligence.
After the 2011 initial release of kuniko plays reich on Linn, the concert presented at Kyoto Art Center in 2012 received the prestigious twelfth Keizo Saji Prize from the Suntory Foundation for the Arts. In 2013 her eagerly awaited second album for Linn was released, featuring the premiere percussion arrangements of four of the great Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s signature works. The album is entitled Cantus and was in the UK’s Top 10 Specialist Classical Chart. It also received the ‘Best Recording’ Award at Japan’s Music Pen Club’s twenty-sixth Music Awards.
In 2015 Kuniko released the major percussion works Pléïades and Rebonds by the great twentieth-century composer Iannis Xenakis. The album was double-nominated in the ‘Best Contemporary Music’ and ‘Best Recording’ categories at the Japan Record Academy Awards. The 2017 release Bach: Solo Works for Marimba saw Kuniko turn to the cello suites and violin sonatas of J. S. Bach. This album debuted at number 2 on Japan’s Classical Billboard Chart, received the Grand Prize at the tenth Japan’s CD Shop Awards 2018 and was Linn’s best-selling album of the year.
In 2019 Kuniko won an Excellence Award for her live performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming at Suntory Hall, Tokyo, in November 2018. The prestigious award was given by the 73rd National Arts Festival (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Her hometown, the City of Toyohashi, appointed her as its special ambassador.
Kuniko is the only Japanese artist signed exclusively to Linn Records. She is endorsed globally by Pearl and ADAMS. She currently resides in the USA.
Born and raised in Italy, Giorgio Magnanensi currently lives in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. His diverse artistic practice includes composition, conducting, improvisation, circuit bending, video art and sonic and spatial explorations. He is artistic director of Vancouver New Music and Laboratorio, and lecturer at the School of Music of the Vancouver Community College.
Videography by Mingtao Kong
Audio recording by Dan Kibke
Video and audio editing Heather McDermid
