Natura Renovatur

It's hard to get ahold of recordings of Scelsi's music, and even harder to get ahold of recordings that are of any quality. This is certainly a fine recording of one of Scelsi's most important works. It is dizzying, vertiginous, and hallucinagenic. It is brilliant and a pleasure to listen to. As Giacinto Scelsi's music becomes more well known, I hope more recordings of his work (such as this one) become available within the mainstream classical community.

Cathedral - like sound that opens the mind and transports the listener to another world. There is an audible architecture to this work that produces the mental state described in the first sentence.

After a long period of hesitation I decided to buy the CD. I did well so.I don't feel forced to choose between Scelsi and his great predecessors. They all praise the cello, the most human of all instruments.

One of the amazing things about music is its continual ability to surprise. This disc of compositions by the obscure Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988)--whom, like you, I had never heard of in my life--arrived in an envelope containing several advance release discs and a really informative press release that I was just too exhausted to read. I threw the discs in my bag so that I could listen to them the next day at work. When I put this disc into my computer, I was busy, so I just stuck it in and went on with my work. After a few minutes, though, I had to stop what I was doing so that I could really hear what was coming through my speakers. What was this strange, engrossing music?! The intensity was palpable, even through the little computer system speakers. Who the heck is this Scelsi guy, anyway, and why have I never heard of him before?! Needless to say, that night the Scelsi CD went into my big system at home, and I frantically scrounged around the pile of papers and envelopes on my kitchen table until I found the press release. Upon reading it, I found out that Scelsi's life story was as mysterious and intense as his music. By now, I am sure that most of you have already made up your minds. Some of you have already decided that this music must be just too weird to endure, and you will go back to your Vivaldi and Boccelli recordings. But a few of you--you guys know who you are--will be willing to give another Italian a chance; believe me, your adventurous spirits will be rewarded as you discover this intense, exhausting, but incredibly tender and moving music. As you hear cellist Frances-Marie Uittti close this CD with her moving rendition of Alleluja, for solo cello, you will immediately want to listen again, to step back into this strange world of mournful yet hopeful music, so beautifully played and recorded by these superb artists and engineers. You will be surprised, challenged, and rewarded by the intensity of their effort, and amazed at both the strangely beautiful sound of Scelsi's music and the beautifully strange tale of Scelsi's life as recounted in the liner notes.

This new ECM disc, NATURA RENOVATUR, is an all-strings set of Scelsi's music, featuring the Dutch cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, who collaborated with the mystic and "composer" for many years. After Scelsi's death in 1988, Uitti was commissioned by Scelsi's sister to catalog over 300 tapes and 700 hours of Scelsi's improvisations dating back to the 1950s, we learn in the liner notes by Uitti and Herbert Henck. She says "[s]ound became the grammatical focus of his later work, superceding pitch, rhythm, and harmony. And his quest was to reveal the third dimension through the use of one tonal center was central in his late work." Included here are three astounding and luminous works for string ensembles from the mid-1960s -- "Ohoi" for 16 strings (8'33" - 1966), "Anagamin" for 11 strings (7'07" - 1965), and "Natura renavatur" for 11 strings (12'30" - 1967), with solos for cello interspersed. "Ave Maria" and "Alleluja," taken from "Three Latin Prayers" (1970) are lovely, lyrical, melodic pieces that stand in contrast to the dense microtonality of the ensemble works.The central solo work is "Ygghur, I, II & III" (16' - 1961), taken from "Trilogy -- The three ages of Man" (1956 - 65), which was dedicated to Frances-Marie Uitti. As is typical in late Scelsi, the music is slow and stately, seemingly probing the inner depths of perception. The ensemble works are performed by the Munchener Kammerorchester (Munich Chamber Orchestra), directed by Christoph Poppen. This new ECM disc overlaps with  the 2001 Kairos disc, also called NATURA RENOVATUR , performed by the Klangforum Wien, Hans Zender conducting (see my review). The Kairos disc also includes both "Anagamin" and "Natura renovatur." It also includes Scelsi's "String Quartet No. 4" (1964), which was expanded for a larger ensemble to form "Natura renovatur," along with "Elohim," another string ensemble work from 1965/67, the "Duo for Violin and Cello" of 1965, and "Maknongan" for solo bass from 1976.Both sets of Scelsi's music for strings are incredible -- be sure to hear at least one. The solo cello works add a subdued poignancy to this ECM set, and the ensemble works are transparent and clear, while the Kairos disc is more intense, and the strings in the ensemble works form a less distinguishable sound mass, which is not bad, just different. Based on what I've heard by Scelsi so far, I find that his music for strings best expresses his mystical goal, expressing the transcendence of the illusion of separateness through one sound. In spirit, if not in method (Scelsi had long years of Western musical training), this music has more in common with the ragas of Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar than with the European avant-garde.(verified purchase from the Cosmic Record Emporium)

These compositions, from 1956-70, engross the listener in a transcendent sound-space. The mournful, faraway melodies and eerie, haunting drones are deliciously peaceful and meditative. This is an essential recording of works from Scelsi's middle period.

This is a rather special album from ECM. I went into it without knowing what to expect. That, incidentally, might be the best way to approach music like this. It is contemporary, exploratory stuff from an Italian composer who is also known for his surrealist poetry. His ouvre remained undiscovered for most of his lifetime which makes this album all the more remarkable for it is music made by one person who was perhaps closest to the reclusive Scelsi for many years. There is a fragment in the liner notes that quotes Scalsi speaking of a tribe where hunters kill their prey with sound. Giving sound a material substance preoccupied him most of his life. If there is one quality to his music that, for me, shines through this wonderful selection, it is just this. Be warned that not all tracks on the disk are built on conventional rules of melody and harmony. Yet what they do convey is captivating, visceral. HIghly recommended to anyone with open ears and hearts.

This record is a unique approach to Giacinto Scelsi music universe. An important forgotten Italian contemporary composer. Fantastic!

Great!

Nun ist die Musik Giacinto Scelsi's sicherlich nicht gerade die einfachste. Doch wer sich Zeit nimmt und den inneren Raum öffnen mag für diese Klanglandschaften, der wird belohnt; und zwar für immer.Das diese Aufnahme bei ECM gemacht wurde, ist ein extra Pluspunkt.Also: Zeit nehmen, immer wieder probieren und durchhalten.Ich habe Scelsi's Musik vor 20 Jahren kennengelernt und er bleibt mir ein treuer Komponist. Die Solo-Stücke für Cello durch Frances-Marie Uitti sind wie auch die Orchesterstücke atemraubend.

These compositions, from 1956-70, engross the listener in a transcendent sound-space. The mournful, faraway melodies and eerie, haunting drones are deliciously peaceful and meditative. This is an essential recording of works from Scelsi's middle period.