| Palimpsest | |
| Type: | Composition for eleven instruments |
| Composer: | Iannis Xenakis |
| Composed: | 1979 |
| Performed: | March 3, 1979 |
| Published: | 1986 |
| Publisher: | Editions Salabert |
| First Recording: | 1986 |
| Duration: | 11 minutes |
| Movements: | 1 |
| Scoring: | Ensemble of eleven instrumentalists |
| Premiere Date: | March 3, 1979 |
| Premiere Location: | L'Aquila, Italy |
| Premiere Conductor: | Sandro Gorli |
| Premiere Performers: | Divertimento Ensemble |
Palimpsest is a composition for chamber ensemble by Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis. It was composed in 1979.
Palimpsest was a joint commission of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, the Unione Musicale di Torino, the Società Aquilana dei Concerti, the Associazione Siciliana Amici della Musica di Palermo, and the Associazione Amici della Musica di Perugia.[1] This marked Xenakis's first Italian commission.[2] The title comes from the term palimpsest, referring to the process of scraping parchments with several superimposed text in order to find the meaning in different layers of writings; similarly, Xenakis uses that notion of layering in his compositional process, as he appears to have composed it by writing over an existing different text. Although the concept is present in the structure, Xenakis came up with the title only after the music was completed.
It was first performed at L'Aquila on March 3, 1979, by the Divertimento Ensemble conducted by Sandro Gorli, who also went on tour in several Italian cities in a programme also including Anaktoria and two other piece by Sylvano Bussotti. It was dedicated to Adriana Panni, the President of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, and subsequently published by Editions Salabert in 1986.
Palimpsest is scored for eleven musicians: an oboe (with an English horn), a B-flat clarinet (with a bass clarinet), a bassoon, a French horn in F, a piano, percussion (two bongos, one tumba, three tom-toms, and timpani), and a string quintet (first and second violins, a viola, a cello, and a double bass). It has a total duration of around eleven minutes[3] and 126 bars.
The piece starts with a very difficult piano solo. The tempo is = 40 MM with some tempo changes along the piece, at a regular and unchanging . However, rapid thirty-second notes and triplets and complicated polyrhythmic patterns are common. Among the avant-garde techniques Xenakis used in Palimpsest are complex polyrhythmic structures, microtones, prominent glissandi, polyphonic arborescences, and timbral sound exploration.[4] Though it is generally not classified as a double concerto, both the percussion and the piano parts are prominent and notable for their difficulty. For example, in the initial solo piano passage, the multilayered melodies have as many as four different simultaneous tempi. In this sense, arborescences are the main driving force, as all instruments employ this technique to a greater or a lesser extent.
Xenakis left instructions regarding on-stage layout. Musicians are required to sit in a curved line, almost semi-circular, facing the audience. The order is strictly as follows: bassoon, first violin, clarinet, cello, second violin, oboe, viola, double bass, and French horn. The piano and the percussionist are asked to be placed behind each one of the line's ends, both on the left side (piano) and the right side (percussion). No specifications for conductors were made, but it is common for conductors to be present in public performances.
As in the case of Phlegra, Palimpsest has only been recorded in a few occasions. The following is a list of recordings of this composition: