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[indutrial]

Is it just me or is Scelsi tragically underrated and underplayed?



https://www.filefreak.com/pfiles/34030/12%20-%20SCELSI%20Suite%20No.%209%20%BBTtai%AB%20%281953%29%20-%20V.mp3
I love this.

I wouldn't say that he's tragically underrated. A good amount of his music has been recorded by top notch artists. Mode records has been gradually releasing more and more of what looks to be a Scelsi edition much like their larger John Cage edition.

The piano suites I've heard are 2, 8, 9, and 10. 5, 6, 7, and 11 exist as scores, but to my knowledge have not been recorded yet. As for 1, 3, and 4, who knows....I'm not sure that his first piano sonata has been recorded either...

I have to say that one of the best recordings I've found in the past few years is the Arditti Quartet's album of Scelsi's works for string quartet, trio, etc... It traces the path of his composing career from his early post-Schoenberg approach to his later fixation on single tones and the performance is very inspired and diligent.

I wouldn't say he's underrated as much as downright unknown. Unlike Xenakis and Cage, Scelsi is not known enough to attract the kind of notoriety that those guys have. Like both of those guys, though, he is getting proper attention from a minority of dedicated musicians and fans much like someone like Sorabji's work gets attention from the minority group that really cares about his works. A forum like this might also give an inaccurate reading on a composer like him because a significant amount of his output is for chamber and solo instruments (non-piano) and he's one of those figures who's everywhere but nowhere big enough to make a huge splash.

As for underplayed...as long as his work is relatively esoteric (since we know a lot of pianists don't go looking for things like this) it will be severely underplayed. But first, people have to be inviting enough to actually listen to his pieces. I would give it some more time, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I've heard enough dumb-assed students bitching about how horrible Schoenberg's music sounds to them that I'm not even prepared to think that more than 1 out of 100 kids will actually discover Scelsi.

[maxreger]

I have maybe 15 of his works... I enjoy them quote a bit, especially the orchestral works. His writing for orchestra and choir is also great, I think its amazing how his music developed over time and his entire overall aesthetic is pretty incredible.

[indutrial]

This thread made me dig out my score for his first String Quartet and the sheets for his piano suite "Ttai." His work truly doesn't pull any punches in terms of tension and strain (not in a bad way). Ttai also evinces some of Scelsi's near-obsessive approach to using repeated notes and pushing individual tones to the limit. The first String Quartet is an unbelievable work that fits in with the best twentieth-century works for that medium (alongside Bartok, Carter, etc...). Having played bass and written in an experimental hardcore/math-rock-ish band, I've always had a fondness for Scelsi's post-dodecaphonic harmonic sensibilities and the strong rhythmic gestures he uses.

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