Latin Prayers (3), for voice (or chorus): Ave Maria
Anagamin, for 12 strings
Trilogia (Die drei Lebensalter des Menschen), for solo cello: Ygghur. First movement
Trilogia (Die drei Lebensalter des Menschen), for solo cello: Ygghur. Second movement
Trilogia (Die drei Lebensalter des Menschen), for solo cello: Ygghur. Third movement
Natura renovatur, for 11 string instruments (derived from String Quartet No.4)
Latin Prayers (3), for voice (or chorus): Alleluja
Giacinto Scelsi (1906-1988) was born into an aristocratic Italian family, whose wealth allowed him to pursue and develop his musical proclivities without material constraints. His early works were influenced by Berg and St... more »ravinsky, among others, but after suffering a mental and creative crisis during the 1950s, he discarded Western tradition and withdrew into outer and inner seclusion. Through travel and reading, he discovered Buddhism and Sanskrit; transformed by their spirituality, he conceived a new kind of music. This recording features six works dating from 1956 to 1970. Fascinated with pure sound, Scelsi spoke of "the inner life of tones," and a "third dimension" beyond pitch and rhythm. Regarding himself not as a composer or creator, but as an emissary passing on what he received in a state of meditation and oblivion, he turned to improvising: first on the piano, then on the ondiola, an electronic melody instrument which can sustain, change, increase, and decrease sound. He stopped writing down his improvisations, instead recording them on tape to be transcribed later. This terribly difficult task fell primarily to the composer Vieri Tosatti and the cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, one of Scelsi's foremost champions. On this disc, Uitti, originator of an innovative technique of playing with two bows, gives an astonishing performance of three unaccompanied pieces, one dedicated to her. The other pieces are arranged for 11 or 16 string instruments, a natural medium offering maximum sonic flexibility and timbral diversity. The music is indeed sheer sound, sustained and static, without form, phrasing, articulation, or counterpoint. Variety is produced through sometimes extreme changes of dynamics, registers and textures, micro-pitches, and sound effects from whispers to screeches. The effect is certainly singular as well as mesmerizing. --Edith Eisler« less
Giacinto Scelsi (1906-1988) was born into an aristocratic Italian family, whose wealth allowed him to pursue and develop his musical proclivities without material constraints. His early works were influenced by Berg and Stravinsky, among others, but after suffering a mental and creative crisis during the 1950s, he discarded Western tradition and withdrew into outer and inner seclusion. Through travel and reading, he discovered Buddhism and Sanskrit; transformed by their spirituality, he conceived a new kind of music. This recording features six works dating from 1956 to 1970. Fascinated with pure sound, Scelsi spoke of "the inner life of tones," and a "third dimension" beyond pitch and rhythm. Regarding himself not as a composer or creator, but as an emissary passing on what he received in a state of meditation and oblivion, he turned to improvising: first on the piano, then on the ondiola, an electronic melody instrument which can sustain, change, increase, and decrease sound. He stopped writing down his improvisations, instead recording them on tape to be transcribed later. This terribly difficult task fell primarily to the composer Vieri Tosatti and the cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, one of Scelsi's foremost champions. On this disc, Uitti, originator of an innovative technique of playing with two bows, gives an astonishing performance of three unaccompanied pieces, one dedicated to her. The other pieces are arranged for 11 or 16 string instruments, a natural medium offering maximum sonic flexibility and timbral diversity. The music is indeed sheer sound, sustained and static, without form, phrasing, articulation, or counterpoint. Variety is produced through sometimes extreme changes of dynamics, registers and textures, micro-pitches, and sound effects from whispers to screeches. The effect is certainly singular as well as mesmerizing. --Edith Eisler
CD Reviews
Nature Renewed -- superb Scelsi set featuring cello
R. Hutchinson | a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds | 07/19/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This new ECM disc, NATURA RENOVATUR, is an all-strings set of Scelsi's music, featuring the Dutch cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, who collaborated with the mystic and "composer" for many years. After Scelsi's death in 1988, Uitti was commissioned by Scelsi's sister to catalog over 300 tapes and 700 hours of Scelsi's improvisations dating back to the 1950s, we learn in the liner notes by Uitti and Herbert Henck. She says "[s]ound became the grammatical focus of his later work, superceding pitch, rhythm, and harmony. And his quest was to reveal the third dimension through the use of one tonal center was central in his late work."
Included here are three astounding and luminous works for string ensembles from the mid-1960s -- "Ohoi" for 16 strings (8'33" - 1966), "Anagamin" for 11 strings (7'07" - 1965), and "Natura renavatur" for 11 strings (12'30" - 1967), with solos for cello interspersed. "Ave Maria" and "Alleluja," taken from "Three Latin Prayers" (1970) are lovely, lyrical, melodic pieces that stand in contrast to the dense microtonality of the ensemble works. The central solo work is "Ygghur, I, II & III" (16' - 1961), taken from "Trilogy -- The three ages of Man" (1956 - 65), which was dedicated to Frances-Marie Uitti. As is typical in late Scelsi, the music is slow and stately, seemingly probing the inner depths of perception. The ensemble works are performed by the Munchener Kammerorchester (Munich Chamber Orchestra), directed by Christoph Poppen.
This new ECM disc overlaps with the 2001 Kairos disc, also called NATURA RENOVATUR, performed by the Klangforum Wien, Hans Zender conducting (see my review). The Kairos disc also includes both "Anagamin" and "Natura renovatur." It also includes Scelsi's "String Quartet No. 4" (1964), which was expanded for a larger ensemble to form "Natura renovatur," along with "Elohim," another string ensemble work from 1965/67, the "Duo for Violin and Cello" of 1965, and "Maknongan" for solo bass from 1976. Both sets of Scelsi's music for strings are incredible -- be sure to hear at least one. The solo cello works add a subdued poignancy to this ECM set, and the ensemble works are transparent and clear, while the Kairos disc is more intense, and the strings in the ensemble works form a less distinguishable sound mass, which is not bad, just different.
Based on what I've heard by Scelsi so far, I find that his music for strings best expresses his mystical goal, expressing the transcendence of the illusion of separateness through one sound. In spirit, if not in method (Scelsi had long years of Western musical training), this music has more in common with the ragas of Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar than with the European avant-garde."
Transcendental and Hypnotic
Wolfsegg | 01/03/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's hard to get ahold of recordings of Scelsi's music, and even harder to get ahold of recordings that are of any quality. This is certainly a fine recording of one of Scelsi's most important works. It is dizzying, vertiginous, and hallucinagenic. It is brilliant and a pleasure to listen to. As Giacinto Scelsi's music becomes more well known, I hope more recordings of his work (such as this one) become available within the mainstream classical community."
A Strangely Beautiful Sound
Karl W. Nehring | Ostrander, OH USA | 07/08/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"One of the amazing things about music is its continual ability to surprise. This disc of compositions by the obscure Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988)--whom, like you, I had never heard of in my life--arrived in an envelope containing several advance release discs and a really informative press release that I was just too exhausted to read. I threw the discs in my bag so that I could listen to them the next day at work.
When I put this disc into my computer, I was busy, so I just stuck it in and went on with my work. After a few minutes, though, I had to stop what I was doing so that I could really hear what was coming through my speakers. What was this strange, engrossing music?! The intensity was palpable, even through the little computer system speakers. Who the heck is this Scelsi guy, anyway, and why have I never heard of him before?!
Needless to say, that night the Scelsi CD went into my big system at home, and I frantically scrounged around the pile of papers and envelopes on my kitchen table until I found the press release. Upon reading it, I found out that Scelsi's life story was as mysterious and intense as his music.
By now, I am sure that most of you have already made up your minds. Some of you have already decided that this music must be just too weird to endure, and you will go back to your Vivaldi and Boccelli recordings. But a few of you--you guys know who you are--will be willing to give another Italian a chance; believe me, your adventurous spirits will be rewarded as you discover this intense, exhausting, but incredibly tender and moving music. As you hear cellist Frances-Marie Uittti close this CD with her moving rendition of Alleluja, for solo cello, you will immediately want to listen again, to step back into this strange world of mournful yet hopeful music, so beautifully played and recorded by these superb artists and engineers. You will be surprised, challenged, and rewarded by the intensity of their effort, and amazed at both the strangely beautiful sound of Scelsi's music and the beautifully strange tale of Scelsi's life as recounted in the liner notes."
Revelation
György Marosi | Budapest | 08/28/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"After a long period of hesitation I decided to buy the CD. I did well so.
I don't feel forced to choose between Scelsi and his great predecessors. They all praise the cello, the most human of all instruments."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1