Period Contemporary music Dedication Silvio Gualda Scoring Percussion | Composed 1987-1989 Duration 12 minutes | |
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Rebonds is a composition for solo percussion by Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. It was composed between 1987 and 1989 and, together with Psappha, is one of the two compositions for solo percussion by Xenakis.
Contents
Composition
Rebonds was written for percussionist Sylvio Gualda, for whom Xenakis had also dedicated other chamber compositions, such as Komboï. It was later published by Éditions Salabert, in an edition revised by Patrick Butin.
Structure
The composition is in two autonomous movements, named A and B, which take up to 12–13 minutes to perform. The first movement uses only skins, with two bongos, three tom-toms, and two bass drums. The second movement, however, uses two bongos, one tumba, one tom-tom, bass drums, and a set of five wood blocks. According to Xenakis, the order of the composition is not fixed: either first A, then B, or vice versa, but both movements should be performed attacca.
In Conversations with Iannis Xenakis, Xenakis clarifies that both movements are “to be played as written, at the written tempos, with all the written notes”, which, paradoxically, leads performers to make relatively personal interpretations of the piece, given that several fragments of it are technically nearly impossible to perform. Some thematic structures were later featured in Okho.
Reception
Rebonds has been very well received by critics and musicians. Jacques Longchamp called it an "immense abstract ritual, a suite of movements and of hammerings without any folkloristic "contamination", pure music full of marvellously efflorescent rhythms, going beyond drama and tempest. A new masterpiece".
Notable recordings
The following is a list of notable performances of this composition: