Iannis Xenakis - La legende d'Eer

La légende d'Eer is a powerful 7-channel electro-acoustic composition which Xenakis created in 1977-78 to be played in "Le Diatope", a curvaceous architectural construction designed by the composer, together with a visual component including laser lights. This "multi-media" work was composed for the opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, where it was performed for three months and seen by thousands of people.

The sound materials of a La légende d'Eer stem from three sources: instrumental sounds, noises, and electronically generated sounds. The work suggests an initial departure, a journey, and a final return. Xenakis surrounds the work with a compilation of five texts, reflecting or reacting upon each other across the distances in time, space, and culture which separate them.

Conlon Nancarrow 1912 - 1997

"Conlon Nancarrow (born October 27, 1912 in Texarkana, Arkansas; died August 10, 1997 in Mexico City) was a U.S.-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.

Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano. He was one of the first composers to use musical instruments as mechanical machines, making them play far beyond human performance ability. He lived most of his life in relative isolation, not becoming widely known until the 1980s. Today, he is remembered as one of the most original and unusual composers of the 20th century".