"Xenakis: His Life in Music is the first full-length study in English of the influential contemporary composer Iannis Xenakis. Following the trajectory of Xenakis's compositional development, James Harley, who studied with Xenakis, presents the works together with clear explanations of the technical and conceptual innovations that shaped them." "Harley examines the relationship between the composer and two early influences: Messiaen and Le Corbusier. Particular attention is paid to analyzing works which were vital to the composer's creative development, from early, unpublished works to the breakthrough pieces Metastasis and Pithoprakta, through the oft-discussed decade of formalization and the evolving styles of the succeeding three decades." "Harley approaches the music from the point of view of a musician; his thesis rests upon the conviction that Xenakis's theoretical formulations can be explained and understood without recourse to complicated mathematics. The "scientific" tendency of the composer's own explications of his work has baffled and often alienated many who have responded strongly to the music. Harley's book allows the interested student and scholar to delve deeply into the music while explaining the structures and theories that inform them in easy-to-understand terms. The book concludes with an up-to-date bibliography, discography, and a list of works."--BOOK JACKET.