Browse by Artist: SCELSI, GIACINTO

Artist:	SCELSI, GIACINTO
Title:	Giacinto Scelsi
Label:	EDITION RZ (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	RZ 1014CD

2002 release. Features 6 works, dating from 1961-1990. "Pranam I En souvenir de la perte tragique de Jani et Sia Christou" (für Stimme, 12 Instrumentalisten und Tonband, 1972); "Anagamin Celui qui choisit de revenir ou pas" (für 12 Streicher, 1965); "Quattro pezzi su una nota sola" (für Kammerorchester, 1959); "Quartetto n. 4", 1964); "Okanagon doit être considéré comme un rite et, si l'on veut, comme le battement de c?ur de la Terre für Harfe" (Tam Tam und Kontrabaß, 1968); "Quartetto n. 2" (1961). "For Giacinto Scelsi, music was above all a manifestation of the energy of sound in the making. Since the early 1950's, at the latest, the idea of sound as a cosmic force, rooted in the Indian notion of music, had become fundamental to his thinking -- from then on, tones and sounds were for him phenomena whose 'depth' had yet to be experienced. Rooted in these assumptions as well is Scelsi's belief that he as subject must completely withdraw, surrendering himself to that which endeavors to free itself through him."

Artist:	SCELSI, GIACINTO
Title:	The Art of Song of Giancinto Scelsi
Label:	NEW ALBION
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	NA 129CD

Mostly works for female voice, performed by Marianne Schuppe (mezzo soprano). The opening "Sauh I-IV" (from 1973, for voice with magnetic tape) features layers of Schuppe's voice, in impressive, polyphonic style -- a great antidote for those of those of us living in fear of the "operatic wail". "Giacinto Scelsi was one of the most individual voices in the history of music. His music stands outside the schools that responded to world events and exists as a monument to itself -- utterly honest and almost indescribable, reminiscent of a statue in Rome but in his case it is a statue of the imagination. Now, a hundred years from his birth, his music is still shocking; almost twenty years from his death, it is nearly fathomable -- and clearly music. These songs may have been created by improvisations that have been recomposed and transcribed, and may have begun as recordings of the natural world, or inspired by a series of sounds, Among the musicians Scelsi worked with was the Japanese singer Michiko Hiryoyama, and this collection by Marianne Schuppe is inspired and informed by those pioneering performances in the 70's. Marianne Schuppe is a very well known vocalist of modern classical and avant garde repertoire throughout Europe. Her technique and intelligence inform an innate ability that allows her to move from 'song' to 'sound' to 'speech' in a lyrical and fluid manner."

Artist:	SCELSI, GIACINTO
Title:	Tre Canti Popolari + Due Componimenti Impetuosi
Label:	SUB ROSA (BELGIUM)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	SR 302CD

2CD collection which re-releases two previous Sub Rosa CDs Tre Canti Popolari (SR 051CD, 1992) and Due Componimenti Impetuosi (SR 063CD, 1995), now remastered and with a new design. This is the vocal and piano music of visionary Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988). Performed by: Marianne Pousseur, Lucy Grauman, Vincent Bouchot, Paul Gerimon, Georg Alexander Van Dam, Jean-Paul Dessy, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, and Johan Bossers. Scelsi will always be known as an atypical composer. Throughout his life, he carefully stepped away from the obligatory musical currents (dodecaphonism, serial music etc.), using his fascination with tone and pure sound and asceticism to create naked, painful music on which silence has no appeasing effect. Extremely secretive (refusing to be photographed or even to sign his name), resolutely focused on mysticism, maybe converted to Buddhism, Scelsi has left a body of work that remains little known. However, his work is perhaps some of the most beautiful and uncompromising works of our time. He had no mentor, no pupils, but he did shed a lasting light on upholders of spectral music, verifying that sound is the cosmic force underpinning everything. Vocal and piano pieces that submit to the eternal tone.

Artist:	SCELSI, GIACINTO
Title:	Trilogia - Die drei Lebensalter des Menschen
Label:	THOROFON (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	CTH 2480CD

Performed by Jessica Kuhn, cello. "Cellist Jessica Kuhn received her musical education in Germany and the USA, where her teachers included Wolfgang Mehlhorn, Eldar Issakadze and Zara Nelsova. She took her postgraduate performance diploma under Natalia Gutman. Jessica Kuhn has made solo and chamber music appearances in a number of European countries and in the USA. She lives in Munich. Jessica Kuhn is especially interested in modern, 20th Century music and contemporary works. This CD of Giacinto Scelsi's Trilogia is the second recording of the complete work, the first being the acclaimed recording made by Frances-Marie Uitti and the composer himself. 'Ask Havasi' by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh is recorded here for the first time."

Artist:	SCELSI, GIACINTO
Title:	Suono Rotundo
Label:	WERGO (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	WER 6672

"Scelsi would have celebrated his 100th birthday in January 2005. This disc is an homage to the great composer, and brings us closer to understanding his art by taking up his principles of self-effacing improvisation and dressing them up in individual clothing. It is a living homage in the sense that it tries to get close to Scelsi, but only to play freely in a very personal way. The three well-wishers are Michael Kiedaisch (percussion), Stefano Scodanibbio (double bass) and Michael Svoboda (trombone). Mike Svoboda remarks, 'The improvisations should sound like composed music, with well-rounded form, a clear concept and balance. We played an improvisation, and then we pursued a promising idea.'"

Artist:	SCELSI, GIACINTO
Title:	Canti Del Capricorno
Label:	WERGO (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	WER 6686

Performed by Michiko Hirayama (voice), Ulrich Krieger (saxophone), Mathias Bauer (double bass), Jürgen Grözinger (percussion), Roland Neff e (percussion). "Michiko Hirayama was the sole inspiration for Scelsi's twenty-part cycle Canti del Capricorno, written between 1962 and 1972. To this day the Japanese singer is a unique performer of this spiritual yet energy-filled work for solo voice, with instrumental accompaniment for certain songs: This is Hirayama's second recording of the work for Wergo and is the first of the complete version. Accompanied by Jürgen Grözinger and his ensemble, Hirayama claims, at age 82, to have found the 'right' path of interpretation."

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