Evryali and the arborescences: Graphic representation as a tool for pianists in the work of Iannis Xenakis

In music, the human brain and body can band together in a tremendous, fantastic harmony. None of the other arts requires or makes feasible such a union. During the execution, the artist can live this absolute state. He can be powerful and refined, very complex and very simple. With his spirit, he can transform into sound even a molecule of time. And accomplish all this at a time (Varga 2004, 89).

The quotation belongs to Xenakis and it comes from his conversations with Bálint András Varga. It makes quite clear what Xenakis sees in a performance: a moment of absolute contact, mental and physical, between the performer and the work. He also underlines the importance of the performer as a true active agent of this encounter.