Iannis Xenakis' SIX-XEN: a new instrument for Pléïades (1978) and a creative process with Indonesian references

The present text addresses the interests, motivations, creative connections, and performative possibilities that an innovative instrument created by a composer for a specific piece could stimulate. Specifically speaking, Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) conceived in 1978 the SIX-XEN as a metallic instrument to be used in two of four movements of Pléïades, a percussion sextet dedicated to Les Percussions de Strasbourg (France). The concept initially demanded the composer’s involvement in the achievement of its practical construction, and different prototypes appeared in the following years. In the introductory presentation of the piece, the composer mentioned that some correlation with Indonesian music could be perceived in the formal structures.
Part I presents an historical perspective to discuss multiple initial aspects of this complex issue. Chapter 1 addresses the context in which Indonesian musical traditions permeated Xenakis’ life. In this context a more detailed description about his unique trip to Bali and Java is delineated. This 1972-1973 journey through the islands in Southeast Asia impacted significant aspects of the composer’s thinking, approaches, tools and practices, having important impacts and direct consequences in the piece and instrument here addressed. Chapter 2 discusses the initial commission that inspired the composer and Pléïades’ production period when it premiered as a ballet and as an instrumental version. Chapter 3 discusses the definition of the SIX-XEN following Xenakis’ indications (in manuscripts, different scores published, interviews and posterior exchanges) and the correlations that the instrument presents with other aspects of the Xenakian compositional approaches. Finally, Chapter 4 discusses the different contexts in which the composer used his instrument, including in another piece than Pléïades. Part I is centered on the composer, his personal intents and interests towards the piece and the innovative instrument, as well as his thoughts about the production of instruments (industrial or artisanal), and the performer’s participation in improving musical objects. The discussion attests that the openness of the instrument construction is not trivial and that its main characteristics are directly correlated with several of Xenakis’ main compositional approaches, intensively reflecting his general work and concepts. Part II addresses the formal analysis of the piece and clarifies how the Indonesian aspects previously mentioned are connected to Xenakis’ creative process, Pléïades, and the SIX-XEN. Chapter 5 discusses initial aspects, definitions, and clarifications about the structural elements, while Chapter 6 addresses the four movements of Pléïades. Chapter 7 highlights the direct and indirect elements that connect the piece and the Xenakian instrument to Indonesian artistic traditions. This second part of the text attests that a flux of direct exogenous materials from Indonesia entered Xenakis’ creative process, something very rarely found in his production. In this way, the fact that he used specific recordings (even one that the composer produced in Bali) to create fundamental structures in Pléïades is considerable. The composer’s creative process is thus situated in a context not previously addressed, which still deserves more attention. The presented contributions also inspire a review of Xenakis’ production in the second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. This review could bring more data about the intensity of the connections that Indonesian performative arts established in Xenakis’ pieces and new tools to analyze and understand his work. In this way, the innovative instrument called SIX-XEN was necessary for Xenakis to have similar timbres of the gamelan in his own compositional context. The fact that the construction of this instrument is required to perform Pléïades, puts the musicians in a very important place of decision. The performers’ choices are crucial in the timbre results of the piece. Part III is divided in two to address the performance as the center of this issue: the written section (Chapter 8) and the recordings of the practice produced in four concerts during the present research (all accessible online). The written part focus on the interpretative aspects of Pléïades open to the performers’ decisions, as well as the Indonesian aspects that could guide the construction of a Sixxen, the interpretation of the piece, or the constitution of a repertoire representing a dialogue between Xenakis and his interests in Balinese and Javanese performative arts. This third part ends with a presentation of the artistic research developed and how it dialogued directly with the archival research and the analysis in continuous information feedback. Part IV centers on the SIX-XEN and the percussion community that, over the years, has managed to produce a diverse panorama of the potential manifestations of Xenakis’ initial idea. In this perspective, Chapter 9 provides a historical description of the percussion ensembles that, having contacted Xenakis or not, successively constructed a Sixxen. In contrast, Chapter 10 presents the main characteristics of the instrument implemented by different percussion ensembles and a general overview of the distribution of Sixxens all around the globe. Chapter 11 discusses the consequential repertoire developed for the Xenakian instrument and the recordings in which it can be heard. This final part attests to an important contribution of the percussion community to the universe of sound research in Xenakis’ work. By searching for ways to build a Sixxen to perform Pléïades and by commissioning new pieces to this instrument, the percussionists acted as fundamental agents of implementing the composer’s musical object. Xenakis left an acoustic instrument to posterity at the same time that he left it under the percussion community’s responsibility (in terms of its construction, use, establishment, and perenniality in the repertoire). The present text is just an initial description of a process that will continue to challenge performers and researchers.