Plays with YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis

Name: Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis
Description: A score-following video of Iannis Xenakis's 1950s orchestral piece Metastasis, showing his graphic, mathematically derived notation as the music plays. It is a landmark of post-war modernist composition.

jarkkkoo Music intermediate

Open on YouTube First HN thread

2 HN users recommended this music video in 2 different months between 2010 and 2022.

2007–2026

2 recommendations 1 citation 1 critical HackerTube score 2

HN uses it as an example of radically different musical notation and as a favorite, if challenging, modernist piece that anticipates sounds like the THX Deep Note.

A score-following video of Iannis Xenakis's 1950s orchestral piece Metastasis, showing his graphic, mathematically derived notation as the music plays. It is a landmark of post-war modernist composition.

Pull quote: “look at the notation for this piece by Iannis Xenakis.” (HN, 2010)

Also tagged: modernist orchestral music, xenakis, metastasis, music notation, avant-garde, score

What Hacker News said

4 labeled comments from the HN archive; up to 20 are kept per video, favoring different commenters. Each one links back to the original thread.

Recommends computer April 2014 under Recreating the THX Deep Note

1953 orchestral piece anticipating the THX Deep Note effect.

Iannis Xenakis' song Metastasis got there first as far as I know, in 1953 with a full orchestra. It has a slightly different (less harmonic) end: [this video] (mostly the first minute) It's one of my favorite songs, mostly for when I want to be left alone in a room.

View on Hacker News

Recommends nirse June 2022 under ‘The War on Music’ Review: Songs Without Listeners

One of the better known post-war modernist pieces.

here are some of the better known 'inhumane' pieces, all from the post-war European modernists, which I all like a lot: [link] (Klavierstueck ix by Stockhausen) [link] (Pli selon pli by Boulez) [link] (Athmosphere by Ligeti) [link] (Sinfonia by Berio) [this video] (Metastasis by Xenakis) And a more recent work: [link] (La commedia by Andriessen)

View on Hacker News

Citations, criticism and jokes

Cites it ohyes December 2010 under The Semicolon Wars

Shows Xenakis score as example of evolving, radically different musical notation.

Read the full comment

Western musical notation has been continuously evolving. It is far from being 'largely unchanged for hundreds of years'. For example, look at the notation for this piece by Iannis Xenakis. (Shows the sheet music in the video). [this video] Compare to this gregorian chant: [link] Or to this piece by his teacher oliver messiaen [link] There are some important things that are the same between the chant and the piece by Messian, but the notations are very very different, and have accumulated some really important stuff over the years. Saying that musical notation has been largely unchanged for hundreds of years is kind of like saying that English has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years.... in that it is incorrect.

View on Hacker News

Pushes back bd May 2010 under Iannis Xenakis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This made me curious to check his actual work. It seems like math and music is not always a winning combination: [this video] (Metastasis) [link] (Psappha) [link] (Terretektorh)

View on Hacker News