''Pléïades'' is a composition for six percussionists composed in 1978 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 ...

, originally commissioned by the percussion ensemble

Les Percussions de Strasbourg Les Percussions de Strasbourg is a contemporary classical music percussion ensemble made up of six percussionists. Founded in 1962, the ensemble is still performing and commissioning music. The current lineup has played together for 15 years. Thei ...

. It is notable for its use of the sixxen, an instrument Xenakis had constructed specifically for the piece.

Title

The title of this work is intentionally ambiguous: on one hand, the term comes from a word meaning "many", and which alludes to all of the instruments used by the six percussionists along the four movements; on the other hand, it refers to a myth in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

: the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of ...

are the seven daughters of Pleione and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

even though the greatest part of his inspiration may come from the astronomy, as the

were thought to be the stars from

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus * '' Bos tauru ...

Structure and composition

The composition has four movements. Although Xenakis proposed two orders, there are many other recordings with different orders: Three of the movements (''Métaux'', ''Claviers'' and ''Peaux'') derive their names from specific instrumental types. In ''Métaux'' ( French, "Metals"), all of the six instrumentalists play an instrument called sixxen (a blend between "six", named after the six musicians, and "xen", named after Xenakis),Restagno, Enzo (1988). ''Xenakis'' (Turin: EDT/Musica), p.246. . which is an instrument Xenakis had constructed specifically for this composition (they were made by the ensemble).Percussive Arts Society (2005). ''Percussive Notes, Volume 43'', p.12. Percussive Arts Society. The instrument in question consists of nineteen bars, of aluminum or bronze and steel, tuned microtonally (to an unequal 21-note scale built from 1/4 and 1/3 tones),Hugh Marlais Davies (1986). ''Echo: the images of sound'', p.17. Paul Panhuysen, ed. Apollohuis. laid out keyboard-style, and it is meant to be played with metal hammers. In ''Claviers'' (French: "Keyboards"), Xenakis uses

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

s, and

xylorimba The xylorimba (sometimes referred to as xylo-marimba or marimba-xylophone) is a pitched percussion instrument similar to an extended-range xylophone with a range identical to some 5-octave celestas or 5-octave marimbas, though typically an octave ...

s. In ''Peaux'' (French: "Skins"), only percussion instruments with skins are played (

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

tom-toms A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as l ...

, congas, timpani and bass drums). In ''Mélanges'' (French: "Mixture"), the composer uses all of the sounds above mentioned.

Title

Structure and composition

Notable recordings

Notes

References