# Giacinto Scelsi



## Blake

1905-1988

Giacinto Scelsi's music was largely unknown throughout most of his life, as he refused to conduct interviews or make analytical comments about his works and rarely sought out performances. The attitudes behind his musical creations can be tied in with this reclusiveness; from the 1940s he saw music as a type of spiritual revelation. He began to compose his better known pieces at this time, works which involved static harmony with surface fluctuations of timbre and microtonal inflection. This type of harmonic minimalism was developed independently of other minimalist trends of the twentieth century, and was received with fascination by the musical world when his music finally began to receive performances and recordings in the 1980s. He wrote over 100 works, including several major pieces for orchestra, and works for chamber ensemble, string quartets, and solo and duo pieces. Many of his pieces were worked out in improvisation and subsequently written down.

Scelsi was born into a wealthy, aristocratic Italian family, a circumstance which allowed him to compose without the necessity of making a living. He played the piano from an early age, before studying composition when in his thirties with Walter Klein, a pupil of Schoenberg's, and then with the Scriabin enthusiast Egon Koehler. Scelsi absorbed the influences of his teachers in this period, using Schoenberg's techniques to write 12-tone music, but also writing in a freely atonal style. Many of the works from this time are for the piano. He traveled widely between the world wars, notably to Africa and Asia.

Around the time of the Second World War, Scelsi suffered a breakdown and was forced to spend time convalescing. His thinking began to be shaped by the eastern philosophies that he had picked up while traveling. He came to the point of view that composition was a spiritual process which had nothing to do with the individualism that had been part of most music making in Europe since the eighteenth century. Rather, he saw the composer as the creator of circumstances through which the secrets in sounds could be revealed. At this time he also became fascinated by the complex of sounds which could be produced by a single note, and reportedly played single pitches repeatedly on the piano, listening intently. These influences began to be felt in his works in the 1950s, with many pieces consisting of very slowly shifting harmony, often moving in one direction, for example in String Quartet No. 4 (1964). This trend was at its most pronounced in the Quattro Pezzi Su Una Nota Sola (Four pieces each on a single note) (1959), for chamber orchestra, where refined orchestration, glissandi, trills, and microtonal movement are given prominence through the stillness of larger scale harmonic action. Other notable works from this period are Khoom (1962) for soprano and small ensemble and Anahit (1965) for violin and 18 instrumentalists. Khoom was part of Scelsi's early 1960s interest in the possibilities of the human voice, developed through his collaborations with the singer Michiko Hirayama. From the 1970s Scelsi's pieces became generally shorter and more succinct.

Dating Scelsi's compositions has been difficult as he re-dated manuscripts deliberately to confuse musicologists. He would not have his photograph taken, and preferred instead to be represented by the symbol of a horizontal line placed under a circle.

- As seen on allmusic.com

This link will take you to a youtube compilation that has over 50 Scelsi videos:


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## mmsbls

My first hearing of a Scelsi work was _Uaxuctum_. I did not like it at the time, but later I listened again because several people here recommended it. It seemed wholly different from my first hearing - both unusual and intriguing. The term mystical often comes up when people describe his music, and certainly I agree with that. I have not heard many more works, but I'm certain that I will return to him from time to time to sample more music.


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## aleazk

What I find amazing in this composer is, one, the incredible technical craft for selecting timbral effects and their transformations (all the timbral effects and contrasts are placed at the exact moment and work incredibly well), two, the intense emotional effect these textures provoke. Scelsi was interested in Eastern-religions and philosophies, and indeed these ideas become a whole with the music, carrying the listener to transcendental emotional planes. I'm very intrigued by the way in which the music and the Eastern ideas combine in these pieces, I really feel I can fully grasp these abstract ideas about the being, time, etc., when I hear this music.

Alex Ross on Scelsi.

Some of my favorites:

-Hymnos

-Prânam II

-Aitsi


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## Blake

Yea, there is certainly something very enchanting about his music. It can verge on shocking for those who aren't ready to take the plunge. That's what I find so attractive about the eastern philosophies. You don't really need to follow a religious doctrine. Just dive inside yourself. And that's exactly what Scelsi was doing quite courageously.


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## deprofundis

*Giacinto Scelsi natura renovatur*

This record is absolutly amazing, dark brooding and mystical.A music you can feel, his music remind me of place like nepal or india, he did travel there and it show in his music , his music has a profound zen aspect.

Beyond the darkness there is light and peace of mind.I bought some of his other recordings, quite inspiring and interactive experience ,i can feel his music not just hear it.

Thanks guys for introducing me this fine artist, i love is work .uaxuctum, aieons is awesome too.

:tiphat: love that stuff


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## sjorstakovitsj

Check out this guide/biography written by classical.net. It so extensive that I couldn't post the whole thing!

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/scelsi.php


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## SilverSurfer

¿Has anyone heard Maknongan (for any bass instrument) by bassist Joëlle Leándre?
It was the first piece I heard from him and those creepy shouts knocked my out and seduced me forever...


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## Guest

I'm really glad that Vesuvius has reminded me of this composer, who I only listen to far too infrequently. I've just remedied that by listening to Part I of *Aion* : what a beautifully terrifying piece! I am still reeling from the way that movement ends as the low instruments gliss up to a beautifully held major third on A-flat/C - that consonant interval seems to be the logical outcome of the preceding material. Masterful!


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## SeptimalTritone

Scelsi- Khoom for solo soprano and small ensemble


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## Blake

He was a man of righteous intent.


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## uaxuctum

Hello, just joined and still new to these forums. :tiphat:

I started the Spanish Wikipedia article on this composer about ten years ago (and subsequently significantly expanded the then-still-stubby English Wikipedia article). I'm glad to find there is already a discussion about this favorite composer of mine here, although it seems quite a lot can still be added to this thread.

I first heard his music through the essential Accord recordings of his orchestral masterpieces, which I serendipitously found one day in a remote corner of the library of the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid (note, however, that about year ago, just before moving to Barcelona, I went back to that library's new location in the Nouvel-designed museum expansion and asked about their contemporary music record collection, just out of curiosity in order to know what had become of them a decade and a half after the life-changing revelation they meant to me, and unfortunately they seem to have been lost or whatever during the move and seem no longer available there-which isn't very surprising, actually, given that they had been almost "thrown into a corner" in the old library location, the curators of the library apparently focussing on the visual-arts book collections and not being much aware or appreciative of the value of the some-quite-rare contemporary music recordings they were lucky enough to have a copy of).

I knew very little about Scelsi then, and had only seen him briefly mentioned by a pair of references. First in a 20th-century music CD selection book, where they mentioned a Hat Art recording of some of his relatively minor works, and his nice looking/sounding surname "Scelsi" caught my eye, as well as the reviewer's mention that the "glacial" quality of the interpretation was almost a requirement demanded by the "extreme elegance" of the pieces. I also first heard about another "obscure"-but-highly-unique composer, the Russian Galina Ustvolskaya, thanks to this little book. Then, after checking quite a few other reference books for some information on him, and basically coming out empty handed, I finally found some classical music dictionary (I cann't remember offhand which, but I think it was a Spanish-language one) that briefly mentioned him and listed some of the names of his works, which further piqued my interest due to their unusual, eye-catching exoticism.

Those scanty, hard-to-find references didn't mention much about him, nor about his musical style and technique and what makes him unique, and what little they said sounded rather cryptic without access to some tangible aural-or-otherwise reference. But one day, I think in late 1999 or early 2000, while looking for music of other more well-known composers like Xenakis, I noticed the shiny, elegant-looking white Accord CDs among the hundredsome collection of contemporary-music recordings lying disorderly in a remote corner of the Reina Sofía Museum library, and saw they contained some of those strangely titled works. So I thought to myself "well, let's find out what these works bearing mysterious names like _Uaxuctum_ and _Hurqualia_ actually sound like", and took them to the listening area together with recordings of other much more famous composers, thinking I'd give them a quick casual listening to satiate my curiosity and afterwards I'd never pay much more attention to them again. Since at that time (and still today in many reference books) this composer was not mentioned among the big names of 20th century music (or even at all), so I wasn't really expecting much of his music, and up until that moment I had thought he was just a minor oddity among many others. My goodness had I been misled!










So I was unknowingly and unsuspectingly in for quite a monumental surprise when the _Quattro Pezzi, Anahit, Uaxuctum, Aiôn, Hurqualia..._ started sounding through the headphones, in no less than their referential performances by the Polish Radio-Television orchestra and choir from Cracow conducted by Jürg Wyttenbach (who had the opportunity of working directly with Scelsi and, as evidenced by their masterful renditions, definitely "got" what Scelsi's highly unusual and unconventional music was about). The listening equipment in the library was also quite good, so I had the privilege to hear them first in all their glory (or well, in all the glory that the limited-quality CD format allows, of course). Needless to say, after this mind-opening, life-changing listening experience, I was transfixed, in total awe, and almost incapable of understanding how such epoch-making, jaw-dropping masterpieces were still lying hidden in such obscurity, mentioned almost nowhere in the dozens of references I had checked looking for the big names and works of 20th century music, and unknown even to most contemporary-music connoisseurs.

Well, thanks to the very good liner notes by Harry Halbreich included with the Accord recordings, I was actually able to understand, at least partly, why most books failed to even mention the existence of such highly unique, radically paradigm-shifting music. They told me the story of how Scelsi had remained intentionally secluded away from the musical establishment, who only finally discovered him towards the very end of his life (a late sudden fame that, unfortunately, would get quickly mired in the absurd polemic regarding the true "authorship" of the works raised by Mr. Tosatti's incendiary boutade after Scelsi's death, which he later regretted having initiated). How Scelsi initially became acquainted with the avantgarde and experimented with the then-dominant twelve-tone techniques and such, and how then, partly as a result, had undergone a serious existential crisis, from which his own unique revolutionary style was to emerge; afterwards pursuing his own very personal path without regard to the main musical trends of his time.

A creative freedom available to him thanks in part to his being a nobleman who did not depend on having to please audiences, critics nor bureaucrats for his livelihood (in fact, he was fond of practising _il piacere aristocratico de dispiacere_ or "the aristocratic pleasure of displeasing", and he once even publicly rejected the audience's applause after a performance of one of his string quartets, saying he could not accept it because what had just been heard was not what he had conceived). His Eastern-inspired self-negating attitude was also in diametrical opposition to the narcissistic, self-promoting tendencies of many (most?) contemporary artists, who thought of themselves as idolized _auteurs_, whereas Scelsi talked of himself as a mere "messenger" and didn't want his personal photograph to be associated with his music, preferring instead to identify himself by means of an abstract, zen-inspired circle-over-line symbol (which can be seen on the cover of the Forlane recording below, as well as on the covers or booklets of several other recordings of his music).










Although, by the turn of the century when I discovered him, it was already over a dozen years that his orchestral masterpieces had finally been premièred in Cologne, a quarter of a century after they were composed, and mere months before his death on the night of the day "when the 8s met" (it is usually stated that he died on 1988-08-09, which is technically true according to current Western calendrical customs, but seldom is it mentioned that he died during the earliest hours of that day, still at night, and never saw the light of day of August 9th, and according to the old Roman ways which considered the day to begin at dawn rather than at midnight, August 8th was indeed his last day in this world, as he had long predicted-whether from trascendental prescient knowledge, or by self-fulfilling prophecy).

Shortly after their late premières, the first recordings of those masterpieces had been made available on CD by Accord. However, by 1999/2000 those recordings (and several referential others, such as the string quartets by the Arditti, or the cello trilogy by Frances-Marie Uitti) had gone long out of print (the Accord recordings were then re-released in 2002 through Universal Music, although their presence in retail outlets has been very limited, at least around here, where to this day I am yet to find them on sale in a brick-and-mortar, having had to order mine through international online shopping).

So I was initially only able to buy some of the recordings of his (for the most part relatively minor as compared to the orchestral) chamber music, principally works for wind instruments and piano. Although soon I had the luck to come across the integrale of his chamber string orchestral pieces (as very well performed by the Wallonia royal chamber orchestra conducted by Jean-Paul Dessy) that Forlane published that year, three of which are reworkings of his string quartets (the 2nd as _Anagamin_, the 3rd as _Ohoi_, and the 4th as _Natura Renovatur_) plus the surprising "extra" piece _Elohim_ (which apparently had remained unpublished). Note the 5th string quartet, one of his very latest works, also has a reworking (or rather, it is a reworking of), but in this case of a piano piece named _Aïtsi_. And about the 1st string quartet, on the other hand, it belongs to his first period and is therefore significantly different in style form the other string quartets (although quite impressive as well, and the most significant piece of his pre-crisis, pre-"monosonority" style, together with the cantata _La nascita del Verbo_ which has only been available on record since a few years ago).










It was only some years later that I first got to see a picture of him, on a two-page article about him appearing in a Spanish classical music magazine. Nowadays there are about half a dozen different photographs of him floating around the web, although as mentioned earlier, because of his particular Eastern-influenced conception of the creative process and the role of the "composer", and thus his personal view of the relationship between himself and "his" music, Scelsi rejected having it associated with his portrait.

So, nowadays it looks as though things have improved significantly. His major works are now instantly accessible on the web; the once-hard-to-find essential recordings are easily available through major online retailers; a fragment of one of his greatest masterpieces (_Uaxuctum_ no less) has seen mass exposure by means of it being included on the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese's 2010 _Shutter Island_; and his name and œuvre has slowing been penetrating the concert repertoires (to the point that about four years ago I had the opportunity to attend a live performance of some of his orchestral works in Madrid, which until then I would have thought an event utterly beyond impossible; although those performances did betray that these works, particularly the extremely demanding, astoundingly difficult _Uaxuctum_, were somewhat above the technical capabilities of the performers; but the mere fact that they dared try, and made the effort to bring and make this repertoire better known to the concert-going audience, was IMO worthy of praise).

However, many reference books, even among the more recently published ones, still seem for the most part to disregard him, either entirely or by only mentioning him in passing as an influence/precursor of the late-century spectralists (who seem to have easily gotten into the spotlight, even though their music is in several ways less radical and revolutionary than Scelsi's). As Harry Halbreich stated already in the late 1980s, _"a whole chapter of recent musical history must be rewritten: the second half of this century is now unthinkable without Scelsi"_.

Inexplicably, though, as of the mid-2010s it seems this chapter is _still_ in need of a major rewrite in many standard reference works. Not surprisingly, then, the Wikipedia article on 20th century classical music doesn't even _mention_ him, relying on what those reference works say (or rather fail to say). And not surprisingly as well, not even one from among his best and most important works (such as _Uaxuctum_, _Aiôn_, _Hurqualia_, _Anahit_, the _Quattro Pezzi_, the String Quartets, or the _Trilogia_)-some of which are such prodigious masterpieces that merit being among the shortlist of most important/innovative/masterful works of the 20th century-have made it into the lists of "most recommended" works on these forums.

By the way, I see someone above mentioned the Classical.net page, which is in fact an abridged version of Todd M. McComb's original essays that can be found here: http://www.medieval.org/music/modern/scelsi.html (hmm... now that I notice, he last revised these essays in 2011, which is about ten years after I first read them, so I guess it's about time for me to have another look at them to see what's new)

Although Todd M. McComb's analyses and commentaries there are generally quite informative, and I really recommend their reading, I have noticed one particular little error he made when he mistook _Hurqualia_'s thematic inspiration as grounded in the Hindu epic of the _Ramayana_, when in fact it references the Islamic mystics' concept of _Hūrqalyā_ [هورقليا] (referring to the main city, and by extension the whole realm, of the _mundus imaginalis_ or _'alām al-mital_ [ألام المِتَل] which according to Sufism lies in between the ordinary physical material plane and the spiritual trascendental plane, and where the Platonic ideals and symbols are instantiated as archetypal transmaterial forms, rather than the perishable imperfect material instances of the physical world).

Which explains the work's subtitle _Un royaume différent_ ("A different realm"), as well as the subtly Arabic-music-like influences heard in the sound itself of this piece. Although, admittedly, this is a really obscure reference almost unknown in the Western world (unlike the Mayan references of _Uaxuctum_, the Indo-Greek references of _Aiôn_, the occultist/mystery-religion references of _Konx-om-pax_, or even the Armenian references of _Anahit_), and most probably Todd M. McComb had never ever heard about it (in fact, I myself only recently discovered the true origin of the title thanks to a scholarly paper about this work I found on the Internet).


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## Blake

Excellent write-up, uaxuctum. :tiphat:


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## violadude

I had a listening test in my 20th Century History class and this piece popped up. I had never heard it before but listening to the whole thing was a great experience. It's an awesome piece.


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## dgee

What is the latest thinking on the amanuensis claims? I recently discovered this interesting back and forth between Ian Pace and, Aaron Cassidy and Richard Barrett (!!!) and others about Scelsi - it develops in a very interesting way and is worth a read :devil:


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## Guest

I enjoy this disc of his piano preludes:


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## proclo

recently I'read this book which is the transcription of an autobiography which Scelsi did record on tape :
http://www.quodlibet.it/schedap.php?id=1903#.VKjQx9KUfSk

Mainly speaks about his "mundane " life , his strange family etc. but also some interesting musical thought ...
It is in Italian and I'm not sure if it has been translated in English as yet...
It is worth a reading...


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## SilverSurfer

Not in English yet, but already in French on Actes Sud as nr. 3 of their collection:

I still remember, when I was young and discovered Scelsi, that it was still alive the rumour that he may be a phantom, an invented composer... Information was not worlwide yet, obviously.
http://www.actes-sud.fr/contributeurs/scelsi-giacinto


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## proclo

yes ...this controversy is still going on today : the Vieri Tosatti pupils (Vieri Tostatti was one of the copyist that was collaborating with Scelsi) still laugh about Scelsi and they recall all kind of funny histories abt him. The problem is that if you listen to the music of Vieri Tosatti it is evident that he was very far away from Scelsi's aesthetics ...so no matter who did what...what metter is that the music with "Scelsi" trade mark it has a great value IMO it is at this point less important who actually did what...I did not know the other 2 books. Thanks for the link !


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## SilverSurfer

Well, at least that confirms that Scelsi existed... Thank you again for another first, or close, hand information.


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## TradeMark

I've been getting into this composer lately, and I really like his music. It seems like he went into micro tonality even before ligeti did.


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## Morimur

Yet another great composer who goes largely ignored here at TC.


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## Guest

Hey I've just got a CD of his piano music; and that was as a result of him being promoted in the post50s thread (Uaxuctum)


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## Blake

TradeMark said:


> I've been getting into this composer lately, and I really like his music. It seems like he went into micro tonality even before ligeti did.


He did, indeed. But I'd be hesitant to say that Scelsi was the first. I'd reckon that has been going on for quite some time. Now, when it makes its way into the light of the populous is a different story.


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## Heliogabo

I would like to introduce me to Scelsi's music. Can someone recommend me how to begin?


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## norman bates

Heliogabo said:


> I would like to introduce me to Scelsi's music. Can someone recommend me how to begin?


Sure, I don't think there's a better introduction than Uaxuctum


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## brotagonist

norman bates said:


> Sure, I don't think there's a better introduction than Uaxuctum


I can't say that I liked that one. I've been enamoured with Okanagon, which I've never had a recording of. I also like these albums:


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## Heliogabo

Thank you both norman bates and brotagonist, I'll check out that link and I'll try to stream those albums very soon.


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## Morimur

An exceptionally informative overview of Scelsi's life and work:
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/scelsi.php

* He composed quite a bit of music; 100 works in total!


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## Morimur

brotagonist said:


> I can't say that I liked that one. I've been enamoured with Okanagon, which I've never had a recording of. I also like these albums:


I ordered Natura Renovatur a few days ago-can't wait to hear it.


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## Morimur

SilverSurfer said:


> Well, at least that confirms that Scelsi existed... Thank you again for another first, or close, hand information.


Tossatti was a pathetic and petty little man who just wanted attention. Presently, there's no doubt as to Scelsi's role of absolute and sole creator of his music. Tossatti was employed as a transcriber-period.


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## norman bates

Morimur said:


> Tossatti was a pathetic and petty little man who just wanted attention. Presently, there's no doubt as to Scelsi's role of absolute and sole creator of his music. Tossatti was employed as a transcriber-period.


For what I've read (even if it's difficult to know what's true and what is not true) that he had a role mainly in the orchestration of the music.


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## starthrower

I've been reading through this thread and decided to order some music. I picked this CD.


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## Manxfeeder

starthrower said:


> I've been reading through this thread and decided to order some music. I picked this CD.


I thought that was a picture of Scelsi on the cover. It's just Wyttenbach. I had to curb my enthusiasm.


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## starthrower

Manxfeeder said:


> I thought that was a picture of Scelsi on the cover. It's just Wyttenbach. I had to curb my enthusiasm.


I'm looking forward to the music. From what I've read, these are definitive recordings.


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## TwoPhotons

I have that CD, the performances and recording quality are fantastic and really succeed in absorbing you into the music. Enjoy!


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## Guest

starthrower said:


> I've been reading through this thread and decided to order some music. I picked this CD.


Delivered today.

I listened to Uaxuctum, as I had heard it previously.

Amazing, visionary music.


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## Guest

Well....!

Today was Scelsi Day.

What can I say? Where've you been all my life?!?!

I started off with an enjoyable album of some of his early piano works. I then played the 3 CD box set alluded to above. And then I played them again.

To a microtone junkie like me this large canvas music is like catnip. The music seems to hang in the air, like fragrance; holding steady, shifting slowly like tectonic plates, growing, receding, waiting, expecting, foreboding, uplifting....

OK I'll go and lie down.

Fans of Haas, Coates, Ligeti should check this man's music out.


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## Guest

Morimur said:


> Yet another great composer who goes largely ignored here at TC.


I'm on the case.

http://www.compositiontoday.com/articles/scelsi.asp


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## Selby

I recommend these recordings:


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## Guest

Selby said:


> I recommend these recordings:


That's good, cos I've just ordered the first one!


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## Guest

Just keep in mind dogen, that his piano works are not much at all like his mature microtonal works. They maintain a similar mood, but Scelsi abandoned the piano in favor of instruments with more microtonal capabilities when he developed his mature style. 

That said, his piano works are not to be overlooked. The KAIROS disc in particular has some truly exciting stuff.

Basically get all 10 discs on mode, all 3 discs on KAIROS, all appearances on NEOS, the above ECM disc, the Naive/Arditti set, and perhaps some of the Wergo or CPO stuff and party, party, party


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## Guest

nathanb said:


> Just keep in mind dogen, that his piano works are not much at all like his mature microtonal works. They maintain a similar mood, but Scelsi abandoned the piano in favor of instruments with more microtonal capabilities when he developed his mature style.


Thanks nathan. Yes, I'd gathered that from my listening and follow-up reading (the piano works probably pre-date his saying "I forgot everything I ever knew about music."

Last night when I was listening to the 3 CD box set of his orchestral/choir works, I was struck by how the brass reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist music. I admit I'd read about his travels there, but I've got some of this music already and would have seen the connection anyway.

Magnificent music, and there's more in the post!!!


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## Guest

1952 is the watershed year.


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## starthrower

Scelsi fans may also enjoy this piece by Italian composer, Luigi Dallapiccola. This version is available on an apex CD reissue of the Erato recording. There's also a recording by Salonon on Sony.


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## Guest

Another recommendation, the double CD performed by the Arditti (and others).

For fans of stripped down, dry, er....vertical music...

View attachment 85708


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## Atrahasis

Great artist... His music is so cryptic and otherworldly. I like to refer to Scelsi as one of the greatest philosophers and mystics of classical music.


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## starthrower

The piano music is sublime. Look for used copies of the two Hat Hut releases by Marianne Schroeder.


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## Guest

starthrower said:


> The piano music is sublime. Look for used copies of the two Hat Hut releases by Marianne Schroeder.


This is really good, I missed your posting of it. I have the mode label recording of Hispania, suite no. 5 and suite no. 6.


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## flamencosketches

I have been enjoying a bit of Scelsi lately: the Duet for Violin and Cello, and the Quattro Pezzi mostly, as well as one of the string quartets (I think it was no.2). Can someone recommend me a good CD of Scelsi for a total beginner to his music? I know he composed in different styles, so anything that serves as an overview over several periods of his music would be excellent. But failing that, the most interesting to me so far is the ultra-minimal one-note music.


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