Composing with Cubes: Iannis Xenakis and Nomos Alpha

Hello all! In this video, we're discussing Iannis Xenakis and his means of composing with cubes! We'll refer to his composition Nomos Alpha (1965) for solo cello and I'll also show you how I composed with cubes when I was an undergraduate. 00:00 Pre-Title Cube, lol 00:08 Introduction: Iannis Xenakis and his cube technique 01:03 Iannis Xenakis 03:31 Nomos Alpha (1965) for solo cello by Iannis Xenakis 05:25 Compositional Material and Structure of Nomos Alpha 06:28 Composing with Cubes 07:46 Pitch 09:46 Other Compositional Parameters 12:08 Modifications 13:54 V2 Sections: Intuitive Composition 16:02 Logistics: Instruments, Balance... 17:13 Logistics: Rhythmic Notation 17:50 Performance Directions 18:13 Make it Your Own 18:25 What I Did... 18:53 Working with Restrictions 19:40 my 'V2' sections 20:59 Remain a Composer 22:10 a brief moment of cringe... Read about Dr Mic Spencer who originally taught me about Xenakis and this cube technique: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/music/staff/4... For more information about the Philips Pavilion reference, check out ‘“Xenakis, not Gounod”: Xenakis, the Avant Garde, and May ’68’, in Exploring Xenakis: Performance, Practice, Philosophy (Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2019). https://vernonpress.com/book/378 This is a chapter I wrote in collaboration with Michael D. Atkinson (University of Brighton). I write about the music and architecture of Xenakis (originally my undergraduate dissertation) and M. D. Atkinson writes about the political context surrounding the graffiti "Xenakis, not Gounod" which was scrawled on a wall during the protests of May '68. Together we talk about Xenakis in relation to being avant garde/Avant Garde (if you're interested, you can also read about what I think about being avant garde in my PhD, published on White Rose eThesis online https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/16880/). _______________________________________ ☕ Buy me a coffee: ko-fi.com/alannahmarie 📑 Website & Blog: alannah.co 🎬 IMDB: imdb.com/name/nm8243409/ 🟣 Spotlight: spotlight.com/9414-1204-1371 -----------------Social Media💌------------------------ 📸 Instagram: @a1annahmarie 🐤 Twitter: @a1annahmarie 🗿 Facebook: @a1annahmarie 🎵 TikTok: @a1annahmarie _______________________________________ Recording date of this video: 07 November, 2021