Xas - Iannis Xenakis

XAS by Iannis Xenakis, commissioned by the Rascher Saxophone Quartet, was composed in 1987. The title itself is an anagram of “SAX”: the S—the only asymmetrical letter—is reversed to form a mirror image. It also playfully references the composer’s own name, XenAkiS, by highlighting its outermost letters and its central A. Since Xenakis had never before written for the saxophone, embedding part of his name into the title while reversing the name of the instrument’s inventor can be read as an appropriation—claiming the saxophone for his own musical language. This work would remain his only composition for the instrument, as a projected concerto was never realized.

Despite the quartet’s modest instrumentation, XAS radiates power combined with an almost abrasive intensity. Extended techniques appear only sparingly: a few quarter tones and simple multiphonics punctuate the score. For the most part, Xenakis avoids the range of timbral and attack-based effects commonly associated with the instrument, leaving such choices largely to the performers. Instead, he pushes the saxophones beyond their conventional limits, employing an extraordinarily extended high tessitura: up to a minor sixth above the soprano’s range, a minor ninth for the alto and tenor, and even an eleventh for the baritone.

In the decades since its premiere, XAS has become one of the most compelling works for saxophone quartet. Many consider it the first “serious” piece for the medium by a major composer, at a time when the quartet was often dismissed as trivial or even in poor taste, much like the brass quintet once was. The saxophone had long been confined to popular music and jazz by most twentieth- and nineteenth-century composers. Xenakis’s bold nonconformism helped redefine the ensemble’s artistic potential and sparked the growth of its repertoire. Since the publication of XAS, composers such as Donatoni, Cage, Dufourt, and Aperghis have enriched the saxophone quartet literature, each exploring the vast and still-evolving possibilities of this dynamic chamber formation.

(Programme note by Serge Bertocchi, edited by Don-Paul Kahl)