We use cookies on our website to provide you with the best experience. Most of these are essential and already present.
We do require your explicit consent to save your cart and browsing history between visits. Read about cookies we use here.
Your cart and preferences will not be saved if you leave the site.
play
1

Giacinto Scelsi

The Orchestral Works 2

Label: Mode

Format: CD

Genre: Compositional

In stock

€16.50
+
-

"The first recording of his 32-minute grand cantata 'La Nascita del Verb.' 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 Giacinto Scelsi's infamous pieces are the 'Quattro Pezzi (su una nota sola).' Ear 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 concentrtates 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."

Details
Cat. number: mode 176
Year: 2006
Notes:
"Quattro Pezzi" composed in 1959; "Uaxuctum" in 1966; "La nascita del Verbo" in 1946-48. Recorded live at the Festival 'Wien Modern', Konzerthaus Vienna on 4 November 2005 (Quattro Pezzi and Uaxuctum) and on 25 November 2005 (La Nascita del Verbo; first recording). Housed in jewel case with a 16 page booklet containing English, German and French liner notes. Total time: 70:05. Also available on Surround Sound DVD. ℗ © 2006 mode records. Made & printed in USA.