Search - Giacinto Scelsi, Hans Zender, Klangforum Wien :: Giacinto Scelsi: Natura Renovatur

The fantastic extended sound of Scelsi's mystical vision

R. Hutchinson | a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds | 07/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hans Zender leads the Klangforum Wien in this fantastic set of Scelsi's music for strings. It is a strength, not a weakness, of the set that it opens and closes with the same piece -- the "String Quartet No. 4" of 1964, and the title work, "Natura renovatur" (Nature renewed), which is an expanded version for 11 strings from 1967. By bookending the album in this way, Scelsi's extended sense of time is extended into a circle, approaching Scelsi's view that "sound is spherical" (quoted in the liner notes).



With the exception of "Maknongan" for solo bass (4'05" - 1976), these works are all from the mid-1960s, which I conclude was Scelsi's peak period -- "Anagamin" for 11 strings (8'20" - 1965), "Elohim" (4'39" - 1965/67), and "Duo for Violin and Cello" (14'05" - 1965). The strings express Scelsi's mysical vision with microtones and long, stately lines. Hans Zender describes three essential characteristics of Scelsi's music in the liner notes to the 1999 Kairos disc simply called GIACINTO SCELSI (see my review): 1) a radically intuitive approach, 2) the use of larger units of time than we are familiar with, and 3) an archaic conception of art that precedes the differentiation of different art forms, and also the differentiation of human individuality.



I strongly recommend both this disc, and the new ECM disc, also called NATURA RENOVATUR, which also features Scelsi's string music exclusively (see my review). To my ears, the sound of strings best expresses Scelsi's mystical goal, to transcend the illusion of separateness through one sound. I will close with a quote from Scelsi from the liner notes:



"I feel more affinity for the oriental philosophies that speak against violence, against manifestations of the earthly life on a practical level. I prefer to think and live on other levels, as much as possible.""