Top 100 Composers: Giacinto Scelsi
It's a little bit surprising to me that the earliest recording I have by Scelsi is on reel-to-reel, which dates it from roughly 1977-1979, & that the next recording of his that I have on record, the only thing I have by him on record, wasn't acquired until 2010. That's a gap of 31 years. I also have pieces recorded on audio cassette & they're almost definitely from those intervening 31 years but the point is that I must not've run across that many recordings by him until my friend Ben Opie gave me, in 2016?, the 2 commercially released Scelsi CDs that I have (& that're shown below).
The 1st piece I apparently heard was "Anahit" (1965) as played by the utterly fantastic Paul Zukovsky. I don't, alas, have a copy of this record & playing the reel is too much hassle now but I remember this record as being phenomenally focused. I have recordings elsewhere of the Scelsi & the Xenakis but not, probably, of the Glass. That's too bad because I remember liking it very much - which is unusual for me because I don't generally like Glass's work. By the by, the handwriting above is not my own, it seems to me that it's that of Herr Brain Storm Drain, so he must've had the record although that seems a bit uncharacteristic. No matter.
Anyway, Scelsi: his explorations of minutia, which doesn't describe everything that he ever composed, are obssessive & I have the highest regard for obssessive when it's applied with a sense of purpose rather than just being neurotic obssessive-compulsive. Scelsi's not really a 'Minimalist", despite his extreme focus, partially beecause he doesn't pursue repetitive rhythms or the 'New Tonality' (thank goodness). I'm generally more interested in, & personally inclined toward, 'Maximalism', a dense sonic environment is much more likely to 'captivate' me - but I do make exceptions & Scelsi's an excellent case in point. Texturally, the work is very rich so it has a sort of microcosm maximalism - much like the Spectralists Dumitrescu & Avram. Gotta love it.
The capitalizations are more or less kept as they are on the recordings I have. I doubt that it's systematic, it's more likely the whim of the graphic design. - tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE; December 1, 2017E.V.
Ben Opie loaned me 5 more Scelsi CDs so the pieces on those are added to the list below in red & the scans of the packaging are added to the end. When the same piece is listed more than once it's because I have 2 recordings of it. If the dates differ it's because there's uncertainty &/or diffrence of opinionms about them. - May 5, 2018E.V.
"POEME POUR PIANO No. 2" - 1934/1939 - 2:50
"Quatuor à cordes no. 1" - 1944 - 31:37
"SUITE 8 FOR PIANO" - 1952 - 24:38
"QUATTRO ILLUSTRAZIONI" - 1952 - 14:29
"QUATTRO ILLUSTRAZIONI" - 1953 - 14:43
"CINQUE INCANTESIMI" - 1953 - 13:22
"CINQUE INCANTESIMI" - 1953 - 13:18
"SUITE 9 FOR PIANO" - 1953 - 30:26
"PWYLL" - 1954 - 4:33
"DIVERTIMENTO No. 3"- 1955 - 11:14
"DIVERTIMENTO No. 3"- 1955 - 11:16
"COELONCANTH" - 1955 - 11:37
"COELONCANTH" - 1955 - 11:37
"QUATTRO PEZZI" - 1956 - 10:47
"IXOR" - 1956 - 4:35
"TRIO A CORDES" - 1958 - 15:12
"TRIO A CORDES" - 1958 - 15:12
"QUATTRO PEZZI PER ORCHESTRA" (each piece on a single note) - 1959 - 14:28
"QUATTRO PEZZI PER ORCHESTRA" (each piece on a single note) - 1959 - 15:25
"KYA" - 1959 - 16:05
"HURQUALIA" - 1960 - 17:23
"Quatuor à cordes no. 2" - 1961 - 17:24
"AION" - 1961
"AION" - 1961 - 20:14
"Khoom" - 1962 - 20:47
"HYMNOS" - 1963 - 11:30
"CHUKRUM" - 1963 - 17:19
"Quatuor à cordes no. 3" - 1963 - 18:42
"Quatuor à cordes no. 4" - 1964 - 9:55
"XNOYBIS" - 1964 - 13:51
"XNOYBIS" - 1964 - 14:00
"DUO POUR VIOLIN ET VIOLINCELLO" - 1965 - 10:55
"DUO POUR VIOLIN ET VIOLINCELLO" - 1965 - 10:57
"ANAHIT" (lyrical poem dedicated to Venus) - 1965 - 13:06
"ANAHIT" (lyrical poem dedicated to Venus) - 1965 - 13:06
"KO LHO" - 1966 - 7:53
"ELEGIA PER TY" - 1958/1966 - 11:13
"ELEGIA PER TY" - 1958/1966 - 11:13
"UAXUCTUM" - 1966 - 19:59
"UAXUCTUM" - 1966 - 19:59
"KONX-OM-PAX" - 1969
"KONX-OM-PAX" - 1969 - 18:03
"L'ÂME AILÉE" - 1973 - 5:26
"L'ÂME AILÉE" - 1973 - 5:26
"L'ÂME OUVERTE" - 1973 - 2:33
"L'ÂME OUVERTE" - 1973 - 2:33
"ARC EN CIEL" - 1973 - 4:45
"PRANAM" - 1973 - 6:52
"FLEUVE MAGIQUE" - 1974 - 2:20
"AITSI" - 1974 - 6:08
"PFHAT" - 1974
"PFHAT" - 1974 - 8:41
"Quatuor à cordes no. 5" - 1974/1985 - 6:32
"MAKNONGAN" - 1976 - 3:28
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