Performances of Thalleïn

Music of Today: Iannis Xenakis

Philharmonia Orchestra

18:00, Thursday 13 March 2008
Royal Festival Hall (external link)
Southbank Centre
SE1 8XX London
United Kingdom

Portrait of Iannis Xenakis conducted by Diego Masson (external link) and presented by Julian Anderson (external link).

For all his training as an architect with Le Corbusier, burning intensity is the overriding emotion in Xenakis’s music. Nowhere is this more evident than in Anaktoria, inspired by the ecstatic love hymns of Sappho. Thalleïn does exactly what its Greek title says — it sprouts from initial bursts of sound in numerous unpredictable directions. Admission free.