Iannis Xenakis, Pithoprakta for Two Trombones, Strings, Xylophone and Woodblock (1955-6) by Jonathan Taylor

Iannis Xenakis, Graphic Score for Pithoprakta. 1955-1956.

Iannis Xenakis, Pithoprakta for Two Trombones, Strings, Xylophone and Woodblock (1955-6)           for Nouritza Matossian
 
 
the spontaneous architecture
of clouds
efflorescences
of glissandi
 
the probabilistic polyphony
of miniscule chaoses
within chaoses
 
col legno frappé
col legno frotté
arco bref      arco normal
rainbow of pizzicati
 
Brownian molecular motion
a cloudy palimpsest
beneath micro-wars of insects
and continent-wide armies
 
sometimes irregularly in-step
sometimes breaking
step on bridges
in case collective resonance
causes them to collapse
 
 
all is massing towards an entropic future
comprehended by no god except music
and a Maxwell-Boltzmann formula
 
Jonathan Taylor
 
Note: this poem is inspired by the description of Pithoprakta in Noritza Matossian, Xenakis (Nicosia: Moufflon, 2005).
 
Jonathan Taylor's books include the novels "Melissa" (Salt, 2015) and "Entertaining Strangers" (Salt, 2012), the memoir "Take Me Home" (Granta, 2007), and the poetry collection "Musicolepsy" (Shoestring, 2013). He is Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. His website is www.jonathanptaylor.co.uk."