''Diamorphoses'' ( gr, Διαμορφώσεις) is the first electroacoustic composition by Greek composer
Iannis Xenakis
Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...
. It was created between 1957 and 1958 and is considered a masterpiece in several academic books on history of
electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instrumen ...
.
Composition
After the creation of the
Radio France
Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster.
Stations
Radio France offers seven national networks:
*France Inter — Radio France's "generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety of ...
studio by
Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His innov ...
in 1948, Iannis Xenakis became very interested in the possibilities of
concrete music
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
and electroacoustic music. By 1955, Xenakis started working in this studio as part of the ''Groupe des recherches musicales'' (french: Musical Research Group). In the particular case of Xenakis, just like Schaeffer, the sounds used in recordings were extracted from engines, trains and other natural and mechanical phenomena.
Xenakis released a set of recordings between 1957 and 1962, from which ''Diamorphoses'' was the first and most notable one. It was eventually finished and presented on October 5, 1958, in Brussels.
''Diamorphoses'' was created on a 2-track tape and, therefore, has a fixed total length of 6 minutes and 57 seconds. It is typically played on at least four speakers.
References
{{Authority control
Compositions by Iannis Xenakis
1958 compositions
Musique concrète
Electroacoustic music albums