Faculty from the FSU College of Music and Vanderbilt University have combined forces in a new recording of Iannis Xenakis’s Dmaathen.
Xenakis, hailed as one of the most influential postwar avant-garde composers, pushed the boundaries of musical expression with his innovative compositions.
“Dmaathen is a verb from the Doric Greek dialect that means to subdue, crush, or defeat,” says Geoffrey Deibel, Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the FSU College of Music. “This title is appropriate but also ironic. I feel that there’s some humor in the piece and I hear it as very much a dialogue or a battle between soloists. While the piece is abstract, there’s also something familiar in it, a dance-like quality that references the folk music of Xenakis’s Greece.”
Recorded in collaboration with Continuous Motion Productions at Vanderbilt University, Deibel and Ji Hye Jung, Associate Professor of Percussion at Vanderbilt University, have meticulously crafted a recording that beautifully showcases the spirit and intensity of the composer’s vision.
This exceptional recording is now available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX_1lyppUiA
