Iannis Xenakis > Quotes

“Art, and above all, music has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expression. It must aim through fixations which are landmarks to draw towards a total exaltation in which the individual mingles, losing his consciousness in a truth immediate, rare, enormous, and perfect. If a work
of art succeeds in this undertaking even for a single moment, it attains its goal. This tremendous truth is not made of objects, emotions, or sensations; it is beyond these, as Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is beyond music. This is why art can lead to realms that religion still occupies for some people.”
― Iannis Xenakis, Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition

“Do you realize that we're meteorites; almost as soon as we're born, we have to disappear?”
― Iannis Xenakis, Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary

“The sub-structure of music is much closer to the sub-structure of space and time. Music is purer, much closer to the categories of the mind.”
― Iannis Xenakis

“The listener must be gripped and whether he likes it or not, drawn into the flight path of the sounds without special training being necessary. The sensual shock must be just as forceful as when one hears a clap of thunder or looks into a bottomless abyss.”
― Iannis Xenakis