Search - Xenakis: Kraanerg [DVD Video] on DVD

Painting a snake and adding legs

Dr. M. Mechthold-jin | China | 08/14/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Kraanerg is the piece that made me a fan of Xenakis and still, for me, is one of the most beautiful works of modernist music. And here you got another outstanding recording of it. I would have awarded the disk 5 points if it had been a CD with just this marvellous music.

Unfortunately there is a lot more on the DVD and most of it spoils the fun. As the Chinese say, it's like painting a snake and adding legs.

This seems to be the fate of Kraanerg ever since its first performance: At that time the music was well received by the critics but unfortunately a ballet was added and the dancing was a disaster. It was probably for that reason that Kraanerg never became the classic it should have been and has not been performed often. It seems Kraanerg does not need to be visualised: It better speaks for itself.

Although this incident is mentioned in the CD (in the booklet and an interview) the makers (Mode records) have not learned from it. Instead of a ballet they add pictures to the music: A badly edited film of the musicians playing the music during the "live" parts and a childish "music video" during the "electronic" parts. Both are annoying to watch. When there is a trombone solo you can bet the film shows the string section. For long periods of time you just see close-ups of the backs of musicians. Whoever did that had no understanding of the music at all. The "music video" is so bad I should not even mention it here.

This music is as powerful as the ocean and as mighty as a mountain landscape. Who needs silly music videos to enjoy the ocean?

I put the DVD into my CD player to see if I can listen to it without having to bear the visuals but it didn't work. So if you buy this, enjoy it with a big piece of cardboard in front of your TV screen. In the meantime I will keep the DVD in the shelf as a collectors item and listen to older recordings of Kraanerg instead.

This mistake has been made before: There is the Zeitkratzer CD and Mode Record's Legende d'Eer, both of which add terrible amateur "music videos" to Xenakis' music. I believe that even in the hands of professionals this idea would not work out. I can't understand how Mode Records could release something so poor. Their audio recordings are fine."