Scelsi: The Complete Works For Clarinet

1. Pieces (3) for E flat clarinet
Composed by Giacinto Scelsi
with Avance Ensemble , Cornelius Hummel , Lutz Mandler , Susanne Mohr , Thomas Ruh , Christian Schneider
Conducted by Zsolt Nagy

2. Ko-Lho, for flute & clarinet
Composed by Giacinto Scelsi
with Avance Ensemble , Cornelius Hummel , Lutz Mandler , Susanne Mohr , Thomas Ruh , Christian Schneider
Conducted by Zsolt Nagy

3. Ixor I-Ixor IV for B flat clarinet & bass clarinet in B flat
Composed by Giacinto Scelsi
with Avance Ensemble , Cornelius Hummel , Lutz Mandler , Susanne Mohr , Thomas Ruh , Christian Schneider
Conducted by Zsolt Nagy

4. Video, alleluia
Composed by Gregorian Chant
with Avance Ensemble , Cornelius Hummel , Lutz Mandler , Susanne Mohr , Thomas Ruh , Christian Schneider
Conducted by Zsolt Nagy

5. Preghiera per un ombra for B flat clarinet
Composed by Giacinto Scelsi
with Avance Ensemble , Cornelius Hummel , Lutz Mandler , Susanne Mohr , Thomas Ruh , Christian Schneider
Conducted by Zsolt Nagy

6. Suite for Flute and B flat clarinet
Composed by Giacinto Scelsi
with Avance Ensemble , Cornelius Hummel , Lutz Mandler , Susanne Mohr , Thomas Ruh , Christian Schneider
Conducted by Zsolt Nagy

7. Kya for B flat clarinet & 7 instruments
Composed by Giacinto Scelsi
with Avance Ensemble , Cornelius Hummel , Lutz Mandler , Susanne Mohr , Thomas Ruh , Christian Schneider
Conducted by Zsolt Nagy

Product Description

Amazon.com
Giacinto Scelsi was both reclusive and inexact in the way that he dated and named his compositions. This rendition of Tre Pezzi (a broad title Scelsi used numerous times for different pieces) focuses on narrow ranges in the B-flat clarinet, demonstrating the thin margin of tonal range between the phrases that come sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Kho Lho, on the other hand, pairs a clarinet and flute duet so closely that the instruments' tones merge into a thick strand of sound. Maknongan is a rumbling study for contrabass clarinet, and Preghiera per un ombra is a death-defying unleashing of soloist David Smeyers's virtuosity, with extreme tempo shifts and seamless spreads of sound. Closing the disc is the sprawling Kya, which sprays clarinet tones against Ensemble Avance's septet of strings and horns. The piece ranges from the intense twining of Ko Lho to overlapping sheets of microtones and a rollicking dissonance. The audio is at once wide open and brilliant. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

A useful survey of mostly minor Scelsi.......2004-01-22

This disc claims to contain the complete works for flute and clarinet by the Italian mystic composer Giacinto Scelsi. Though this description is certainly inaccurate--none of the four Ixor pieces for clarinet appear here, nor does Hyxos for flute, gongs and percussion--this disc still contains a good survey of Scelsi's shorter chamber works.

The music on this disc falls naturally into three groups: firstly, the comparatively early, improvisational music written before 1959; secondly works from between 1959 and 1974, which is typically based on microtones and soft floating harmonies; finally the return to a more improvisational nature in the few pieces written after then.

Of the earlier works, the Piccola suite for flute and clarinet is a four-movement work often focused on short, incantatory melodies and repeated notes. In contrast, the flute solos Quays and Pwyll are more meditative and ritualistic in nature. The Tre studi for solo clarinet (also known as the Tre pezzi) are more virtuosic, and the tendency towards complex, difficult writing is taken to its extreme in Preghiera per un' ombra, also for solo clarinet. The last of the early pieces is the intriguing bird-like chatter of Rucke di guck, for the unusal combination of piccolo and oboe.

The next four works return to the flute and clarinet pairing, but in a completely different manner to the Piccola suite. Xnoybis (originally for violin solo) is an essay in slowly floating microtones; the two contrapuntal lines so close in pitch that the listener sometimes hears an illusory beat originating from the interference patterns between them. Ko-Lho is far softer-edged and distinctly more melodic in nature, with the two instruments instruments blending their sound carefully, as they circle weightlessly around a central tone. L'ame ouvert and L'ame ailée (also originally for solo violin) explore much of the same world as Xnoybis, but with a generally harsher tone.

The late works are distinctly contrasted. Maknongan, for solo bass instrument or voice, is played here in a version for contrabass clarinet. Intense and ritualistic, it is one of the finest of Scelsi's late works. Krishna e Radha is transcribed from an improvisation by Scelsi and the American flautist Karin Levine (the original recording, in very poor sound, is available on cpo). It's short, lyrical and somewhat slight.

Tracks:

Tre Pezzi For E flat: I.Con Moto
Tre Pezzi For E flat: II.Non Troppo Mosso
Tre Pezzi For E flat: III.Scorrevole
Ko-Lho For B flat: I.
Ko-Lho For B flat: II.
IXOR I For B flat
IXOR II For B flat
IXOR III For B flat
IXOR IV For B flat
Maknongan For B flat
Preghiera Per Un' Ombra For B flat
Ste For B flat: I.
Ste For B flat: II. Movendo
Ste For B flat: III. Prestissimo
Ste For B flat: IV. Presto
KYA For B flat: I.
KYA For B flat: II.
KYA For B flat: III.

Amazon.com

Giacinto Scelsi was both reclusive and inexact in the way that he dated and named his compositions. This rendition of Tre Pezzi (a broad title Scelsi used numerous times for different pieces) focuses on narrow ranges in the B-flat clarinet, demonstrating the thin margin of tonal range between the phrases that come sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Kho Lho, on the other hand, pairs a clarinet and flute duet so closely that the instruments' tones merge into a thick strand of sound. Maknongan is a rumbling study for contrabass clarinet, and Preghiera per un ombra is a death-defying unleashing of soloist David Smeyers's virtuosity, with extreme tempo shifts and seamless spreads of sound. Closing the disc is the sprawling Kya, which sprays clarinet tones against Ensemble Avance's septet of strings and horns. The piece ranges from the intense twining of Ko Lho to overlapping sheets of microtones and a rollicking dissonance. The audio is at once wide open and brilliant. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Mainly minor Scelsi.......2003-11-14

This disc is a good idea, but in my opinion it's primarily for Scelsi completists. Much of the music on the disc isn't top-drawer Scelsi, and the best work on it is four minutes long.

Four of the seven works on this disc date from before Scelsi's breakthrough Quattro pezzi for orchestra of 1959, and these four pieces are largely in the same style--intense, ritualistic, atonal and often quite virtuosic (extremely so in the case of Preghiera per un' ombra). I don't always find these works convincing--they seem rather stylistically overwrought compared with the more typical and more meditative flute works of the same era (Pwyll, Hyxos and Quays, for example, on another CPO disc). Rather more impressive are the works from later on: Ko-Lho is a short duo for flute and clarinet which often meld together as if into one instrument, while Maknongan is an astonishing ritualistic tour de force (though I have to say I have heard better performances than this one). Finally, Kya, of 1959, is a transitional work, almost a concerto for clarinet and small instrumental ensemble. This work impresses, with almost folk-like melodic cells in the clarinet triggering floating harmonies in the accompaniment, but I don't find it hangs in the memory as some of Scelsi's other works of this era do.

Overall, worth considering, but there are other Scelsi discs that are more essential.

Track Listings: