Giacinto Scelsi

(1905-88)

mode 176

Scelsi Edition 6 – The Orchestral Works 2

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mode 176 Giacinto SCELSI: The Orchestral Works 2Quattro Pezzi (su una nota sola), Uaxuctum-The Legend of the Mayan City which they themselves destroyed for religious reasons, La nascita del Verbo. Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Peter Rundel, Johannes Kalitzke, Concentus Vocalis, Chorusmaster: Herbert Böck, Wiener Kammerchor, Chorusmaster: Michael Grohotolsky. First Recording.    96/24-bit DVD Video DVD Video

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Scelsi Edition 6 - The Orchestral Works 2 - CD
The 2nd work for wordless chorus, ondes Martenot, and orchestra; the 3rd work for wordless chorus and orchestra. (viewed Feb. 7, 2013). Concentus Vocalis (2nd work) ; Wiener Kammerchor (3rd work) ; Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra ; Peter Rundel, conductor (1st & 2nd work) ; Johannes Kalitzke, conductor (3rd work). Recorded in 2005. Previously released as a compact disc.

Quattro Pezzi (su una nota sola) (1959)   (16:54)
for 25 musicians
Peter Rundel, conductor
   1st Movement   (2:56)
   2nd Movement   (4:49)
   3rd Movement   (4:27)
   4th Movement   (4:41)

Uaxuctum-The Legend of the Mayan City which they themselves destroyed for religious reasons (1966)   (21:14)
for ondes Martenot, seven percussionists, timpanist, chorus and 23 musicians
Peter Rundel, conductor
   1st Movement   (6:13)
   2nd Movement   (3:59)
   3rd Movement   (3:43)
   4th Movement   (3:12)
   5th Movement   (4:07)
Concentus Vocalis, Chorusmaster: Herbert Böck

La nascita del Verbo (1946-48)   (31:58)
for chorus and large orchestra
Johannes Kalitzke, conductor
   1st Movement   (6:34)
   2nd Movement   (6:00)
   3rd Movement   (8:09)
   4th Movement   (11:15)
Wiener Kammerchor, Chorusmaster: Michael Grohotolsky

Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

First Recording

The first recording of his 32-minute grand cantata La nascita del Verbo. Steeped in chromaticism, with hints of Scriabin and a sea of percussion, Nascita boasts a vast double fugue (one of the most imposing in the history of music) and a forty-seven voice canon in twelve keys. This work, “truly written in blood,” left Scelsi “in a deplorable state,” afterwards he stopped composing for several years.

One of Scelsi’s infamous pieces is the Quattro Pezzi (su una nota sola). Each piece is limited to one pitch with micro-fluctuations of sound (vibratos, slurs, spectral changes, tremolos…). Because of the nearly total abandonment of harmonics, the listener concentrates on new sonorous subtleties, on the orchestra’s timbre as a whole.

In 1966, he completed the ferocious, tormented, complex Uaxuctum. The myths and mysteries of this Mayan city is reflected in Scelsi’s compositional process: new instrumental and vocal techniques (breathing noises, nasal sounds, muted or inhaled gutturals…), rhythmic incantations, a petrified flow of time. Few woodwinds, a string section consisting of six double basses, lots of brass, and, in addition to a timpanist, no less than seven percussionists!

Hi-resolution 48khz/24-bit recording.

Also available on surround-sound DVD.
(NOTE: the DVD contains no video)


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