Nomos Alpha of Iannis XENAKIS for cello solo : guide for performers [NOMOS ALPHA of Iannis XENAKIS for cello solo: guide for performers

Name: Josquin Buvat Main subject: Cello Supervisor: Patrick van Deurzen Master circle leader: Martin Prchal Title: Nomos Alpha of Iannis Xenakis: guide for performers Research question: how build one's interpretation of Nomos Alpha ? And practice it? Summary of result: Today, Nomos Alpha (1965-66) is greeted with loud applause each time it is performed. And the piece is considered one of the greatest pieces of the 20th century's cello solo repertoire, still it's also one of most difficult and “avant-gardiste”. Furthermore, the piece remains 'Difficult' for the listener: it is submerged in the torrent of 144 micro-events, an extreme fragmentation accentuated by the presence of many silences. That's why Nomos is only rarely played. Since the piece's creation in 1966, lot of cellists were aware of the existence of Nomos Alpha. Many cellists had the score, but hardly anyone played it. It seemed important to me to begin my research with an analysis of the piece and an explanation of the historical musical context of that time. Indeed, Nomos alpha is one of Xenakis’s most ‘formalised’ pieces, the structure and all the parameters are calculated down to the last details. For cellists, these knowledges are essential to understanding the piece and making the necessary choices to build its interpretation of Nomos Alpha. In last the last part of this research, I have maked a guide for performers for the cellist who would like to play Nomos Alpha. For this guide I will try to concentrate on some essentials aspects of the piece for the performers. To illustrate this guide I did an critic comparative analysis of the different versions of the piece. And finally to complete this guide I did some videos of tutorials on how to practice the piece. Biography After completing his studies at Pôle Supérieur Paris Boulogne-Billancourt in Michel Strauss's cello class, as well as his Bachelor's degree in Musicology at Paris-Sorbonne University, Josquin Buvat continued his studies in a Master's degree in Performance at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag. Josquin gives a special place to modern music and contemporary creation in his repertoire. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Nomos ensemble, with which he has appeared at several festivals, including the Presences festival at Radio France, a concert that will be recorded. He performs regularly in chamber music as well as in orchestra, with Les Siècles, Ensemble Appasionato, Ensemble A-letheia the OJIF, the JOEHB. In addition to his musical activities Josquin is also involved in the field of associations, for two years including one as President of the Students Office of the PSPBB.

Introduction

I have discovered Nomos Alpha of Iannis Xenakis ten years ago. For me it was a shock! I had never heard of Xenakis' music before. On the one hand I was totally fascinated by the sonorities especially by the incredible energy that emanated from this music. I was impressed by the great and particular virtuosity required to play this piece. On the other hand I was a little bit lost, since this music is unlike any other, and the instrumental technique used by Xenakis in this piece is totally unusual. We have the feeling that Xenakis created a new instrument. At the time, I couldn't play Nomos Alpha -it was too difficult- but I did a first try. Four years after, I played the first three pages of Nomos Alpha for a cello exam. During this period I continued to develop my curiosity for this music. I had already read several books and articles on the music of Xenakis and on Nomos Alpha . I then discovered that Iannis Xenakis was a very particular composer and that Nomos Alpha was a very special and exciting piece, as much in terms of contruction its- structure- as in terms of instrumental technique.
This master at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague is giving me two opportunities. First, to play the whole piece for my final recital, and second to take a closer look at/deepen my knowledge of this revolutionary piece.

Resarch question: In his analysis conclusion Fernand Vandenboegarde said "Nomos Alpha is a very difficulty piece to performs, all the sonirities can't be technically realise by the performer."1. How can the study of Xenakis' language and the analysis of Nomos Alpha help to build an interpretation that respects the sound identity of Xenakis at best?

“The ugliest thing I had ever heard !”

the critic Antoine Goléa after the first audition of Nomos Alpha by Siegfried Palm in 1966 in Bremen.

Today, Nomos Alpha is greeted with loud applause each time it is performed2. And the piece is considered one of the greatest pieces of the 20^th century's cello solo repertoire, still it's also one of most difficult and “avant-gardiste”. Furthermore, the piece remains 'Difficult' for the listener: it is submerged in the torrent of 144 micro-events, an extreme fragmentation accentuated by the presence of many silences. That's why Nomos is only rarely played. Since the piece's creation in 1966, lot of cellists were aware of the existence of Nomos Alpha. Many cellists had the score, but hardly anyone played it. Just a few brave cellists played and recorded it: Siegfried Palm (dedicatee of the piece), Pierre Penassou, Rohan de Saram and Pierre Strauch in the years following the premiere. More rencently, Christophe Roy and Arne Deforce.

In the preamble, I propose a musicological research to define: the historical and musical context in 1966 -when the piece was written. After that, the first part will be spent on the language of Xenakis, and on showing why the Nomos Alpha composition is the culmination of many years of reflection, research and publications (articles and books) of Xenakis. I will base my research on some Xenakis writtings like, Towards a philosophy of music , Toward a methamusic or his book Musiques formelles. In this works Xenakis describes his artistic process which led to the composition of Nomos Alpha. I will also use several works of specialists and friends of Xenakis, such as Makis Solomos, Jean Bernard Mâche or Maurice Fleuret. With this material, we will try to explain the peculiarities of Xenakis' language and to better understand how this music which is "unlike any others"3-Jean Bernard Mâche is built.

In the second part, I will focus on Nomos Alpha analysis. As we shall see the composition of Nomos Alpha is very complex. Iannis Xenakis was an architect and hence he had a great knowledge in mathematics and used it to compose his music. That's why I do not have the necessary skills to do an analysis myself, but many musicologists did it: Fernand Vandenbogaerde , Makis Solomos, and Xenakis himself. I will base my argumentation on this different works and especially on the Vandenbogaerde analysis. The purpose of this part will be to get a better apprehension of the acoustic universe of the piece. Indeed, all the sounds of Nomos alpha are based on combinatory logic. All parameters of the sound are formalised : the pitches, the lengths, the intensities, the densities and the tones. To organise all these parameters Xenakis, used different mathematics concepts, in particular the group and the" sieves" theories. The concept of the group theory will be explain in the page organisation of the basic sound and the "sieves" theory in chapter on the methods of composition used in Nomos Alpha.

For the performers, it's very important to understand how the piece is built, obviously, but above all to be aware of how the different sounds are generated. I think this knowledge is essential in order to make the necessary choices to build one's interpretation of Nomos Alpha.

The third and last part will be a practical part. A guide for performers, for the cellist who would like to play Nomos Alpha. For this guide I will try to concentrate on some essentials aspects of the piece for the performers. I did a comparative analysis between the different recordings that exist to my knowledge: Siegfried PALM, Pierre PENASSOU, Rohan de SARAM, Pierre STRAUCH, Christophe ROY and Arne DEFORCE. Each version is very different. Each cellist has made totally different choices, because everyone has a different perception of what is the main element of the piece: the tempo, the energy, the intonation, or the rhythm. After, I will try to explain which way could be the best. To support my point of view I will use the two first parts of this research but not only. I did two interviews, the first one-by telephone- with Makis SOLOMOS, musicologist and specialist of Xenakis's music. And the second one -video- with Christophe ROY, renowned cellist and performer of Nomos Alpha. We will talk about some of the issues and choices that the artist has to make.
And finally to complete this guide for performers, Christophe ROY and I will do some videos of tutorials on how to practice the piece.

to Iannis Xenakis music language

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