infotext:
Volume 17 of the MUSICA VIVA series, which NEOS is developing in exclusive cooperation with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra: Four heavyweight works by the Italian eccentric composer from La Spezia, which have not yet been represented in the catalog in sufficient quality.
Scelsi - he died on August 9, 1988 in Rome - can still be celebrated as a discovery: in Italy still rather unnoticed - in Salzburg 2008 highlighted as a "continent" within the festival - in Germany from the beginning and increasingly more profound valued as a composer. Much has been rumored about the authenticity and identity of his works and their creator himself.
The fact is that the pieces presented here make a strong impression and develop a peculiar pull effect. Perhaps the listener should begin with Hymnos, a paean of only twelve minutes in length – one of Scelsi's most grandiose single movements!
program:
Chukrum (1963) for large string orchestra [02] 03:18 II Quattro Pezzi (1959) for orchestra [07] 04:48 III [09] 13:30 p.m Natural renovation (1967) for eleven strings [10] 12:05 hymns (1963) for organ and two orchestral groups total: 60:01 Elisabeth Zawadke, organ |
Press:
Scherzo 12/2008
Listen to the sound Interpretation: It has often been told and is now one of the great stories of modern music history: that the Italian Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), when he developed a musical concept of expression at the end of the 1950s after critical collapses and after turning to East Asian philosophy, that resulting from the concentration on the individual tone. No matter how one interprets this 'myth of origin' and the fact that Scelsi often gave his works an aura of the enigmatic through titles and comments: the fact is that he rushed ahead of the development with the corresponding compositions by several decades. Unnoticed and untouched by currents and schools, he developed a concept that did not crystallize elsewhere until the XNUMXs and XNUMXs and therefore helped the Italian's work to gain immense attention towards the end of his life. Scelsi understands the tone as a sound, as a sum of overtones, so that his music is generated from the interaction of dynamics, rhythm and different overtone relationships (in the sense of timbres). What otherwise only resonates in sound production is turned outwards in Scelsi's works and therefore determines the way the music appears. This also has significant consequences for the course of a composition over time, because focusing precisely on certain properties of sounds requires time, cannot be grasped with a directed development process, but unfolds on the basis of those conditions that were chosen as the starting point of a work. Above all, the compositions recorded here make it possible to understand what is so exciting about Scelsi's music: At first touch, it offers the listener no clues, cannot be grasped via affective or stylistic patterns from other music, but requires a downright intuitive approach the perception of sound and its constant changes. The best thing is to simply let this CD from the NEOS label from the 'Musica viva' series work its magic on you: to hear how the music moves away from the individual tones, how it gradually colors the central tones that have been set, through micro-interval gradations opens up a space that can be perceived as a harmonious deep structure, which is then always illuminated differently, each placing different color values in the foreground. Finally, the tonal contrast between organ (played by Elisabeth Zawadke) and orchestral groups in 'Hymnos' (1963) is also fascinating and interact with each other due to the two-choir system. Overall, the CD offers a very good start for listeners who want to become familiar with Scelsi's compositions. Even if one considers that individual compositions have already been heard in other productions, a multi-layered portrait of the orchestral composer Scelsi has succeeded here due to the well-considered selection of works. The excellent sound quality and the performance of the orchestra, which is particularly exciting and amazingly sovereign in these live recordings, make the production an all-round successful experience. dr Stefan Drees |
