Antonio Lotti; Johann Sebastian Bach - Missa Sapientiae; Magnificat

"According to a recently discovered source, Antonio Lotti was born not in Hanover, as had been presumed previously, but on 5 January 1667 in Venice. His parents - the 'sonatore' Matteo Lotti and Marina Gasparin, the daughter of a 'baracol' - married in 1662 in the Venetian church S. Marino, and it was also there that their son Antonio Lotti was baptized on 25 January 1667. Antonio Lotti spend the greater part of his life in the city on the lagoon, where he received his training from the Maestro di cappella of San Marco, Giovanni Legrenzi, and the local tenor and counterpoint teacher Lodovico Fuga. In 1689 Lotti himself was hired as a falsetto, and in 1702 also as second organist at San Marco. He occupied various positions in the chapel until in 1736 he was able to prevail in the competition for the coveted office of 'Maestro di cappella'. He occupied various positions in the chapel until in 1736 he was able to prevail in the competition for the coveted office of 'Maestro di cappella'. He held his post until his death in Venice on 5 January 1640. Lotti wrote numerous sacred music compositions for San Marco and for other institutions such as the ospedali, the orphanages that were famous for the well-grounded musical education of their pupils. At the same time, with nearly twenty successful stage works, Lotti was considered as one of the leading representative of Venetian opera, and it was above all this reputation that led in 1717 to an invitation to Dresden by the Prince Elector of Saxony, Friedrich August. Lotti spent about two years, with his opera troop at the Saxon court, until the conclusion of the festivities in honor of the marriage of Friedrich August and Princess Maria Josepha of Hapsburg in 1719. Five large-scale stage works were written during this time. The Italian musicians also occasionally performed in the court church, and a number of sacred works by Lotti have survived in the Saxon State Library: Masses and individual Mass movements, a requiem, and various psalm settings. In terms of style and because of the high quality of their performance, Lotti's church music compositions were perceived by his contemporaries as being novel. In a report by the Dresden Jesuits, for example, it is written:

"'In a manner completely new here the Italian musicians, who were sent by his Highness the Prince Elector from Venice to Dresden, brought our church to life when they [...] embellished a High Mass, which lasted almost three hours, with such admirable artistic skill both in terms of the voices as well as the instruments, such as one has never before heard in Dresden.'

"Even outside Dresden these performances did not remain unnoticed. Johann Sebastian Bach's predecessor in the position of Thomaskantor, Johann Kuhnau, pointed out Lotti's exemplary stylistic separation of opera and church music, and praised the 'admirable gravity, strong and perfect harmony and art, in addition to the exceptional charm' of Lotti's work which he had heard in the Dresden court church.

"As far as we can see, Lotti seems in later years to have written works above all in the old church style originating from Palestrina. Perhaps with Lotti in mind, the Dresden Kapellmeister Johann David Heinichen sarcastically remarked in the foreword to his 'Generalbaß in der Composition' ('Thorough bass in Composition'): 'I have observed in other places various notable examples, that when formerly renowned theater composers in their old age had lost all their fire and inventiveness, they then finally started to become good church composers and, contrary to their former habit, to work hard on counterpoint. One could deduce various things from this.'

"Soon after Lotti's death his church music, like that of most of his contemporaries, began to disappear from the repertoire. Only in Venice were a few of his stile-antico compositions, which were less tied to a particular period, still occasionally still performed into the early nineteenth century. Thus, in 1770 Charles Burney, the writer on music who toured in Italy and France, heard in the Venetian church of San Giovanni e Poulo 'a mass sung in four parts, without other instrument than the organ. [...] The composition [...] consisting of fugues and imitations in the stile of our best old church services. [...] Upon the whole this seems to be the true stile for the church: it calls to memory nothing vulgar, light, or prophane [sic]; it disposed the mind to philanthropy, and divests it of its gross and sensual passions.'

"Burney's report marks a turning point in the history of Lotti reception: Had Lotti struck the right note for the ears of his contemporaries with his works in concertante style, the music historiography emerging toward the end of the eighteenth century saw in him above all a representative of stile-antico composition, a view that especially in Germany continued to be propagated in the early years of the nineteenth century. A central role was played by the rediscovery and publication of an eight-part 'Crucifixus' by the prominent music theorist Adolf Bernhard Marx in the 'Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung' in 1819. Marx combined the publication of the work with the intention, proposed in a manifesto-like manner, of promoting along with Lotti's easily accessible 'Crucifixus' the acceptance of stile-antico compositions, after previously published works in this genre by Palestrina, Sarti, and Fux had not been particularly well received with the public. The publication received great attention, as a result of which musical historiography, which often displays a tendency toward typification and quick historical classification, for a long time failed to take notice of a substantial part of Lotti's sacred music œuvre. Accordingly, the most extensive edition of selected works up to now, which appeared in 1930 in the series 'Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst', contains works exclusively in the old style.

"Since to the present day the full breadth of Antonio Lotti's sacred music has hardly been explored in its full breadth, and in particular a catalogue of his works is lacking, the context and date of origin of the 'Missa Sapientiae' lie in obscurity. Yet the work, accompanied by independent instrumental parts and fashioned in the modern sacred-music style appears to have been quite well known by Lotti's contemporaries, as shown by the wide dissemination of preserved sources and the unusual fact that prominent composers such as George Frideric Handel, Jan Dismas Zelenka, and Johann Sebastian Bach owned copies of this Mass.

"George Frideric Handel, who probably knew Lotti personally from his time in Venice and from a sojourn in Dresden, copied the Mass incompletely and without the text, as is the case in almost all his copies of works by other composers. In this way, Handel collected a store of so-called borrowing material from which he could take rhythmic models, thematic ideas or even whole sections of movements for his own compositions. Indeed, many fruits of this collecting activity can be found in his works. For example, the chorus 'Blest be the hand' ('Theodora', HWV 68) clearly comes from the 'Domine Deus', 'Agnus Dei', and the instrumental sections in the chorus 'Virtue will place thee' ('The Choice of Hercules', HWV 69) is taken from the 'Gloria in excelsis'. One could list further examples, including some in 'Jephta' (HWV 70).

"In contrast to Handel, Jan Dismas Zelenka, whose official duties in Dresden included the procurement of musical repertoire for the Catholic court church, copied Lotti's Mass ca. 1730 for performance purposes. In so doing, he adapted the work to the usage in Dresden in that he provided for a more colorful wind instrumentation. Thus, for example, he strengthened the string tutti over longer stretches with oboes, added a group of woodwinds to the interplay of the high strings and continuo in the 'Laudamus te', and transformed the oboe part into a trumpet part in the 'Gloria in excelsis'. The name 'Missa Sapientiae' also originates with Zelenka, who gave Mass compositions by other composers nicknames of this sort, apparently to be able to tell them apart more easily. Strictly speaking, the name 'Missa Sapientiae' therefore refers not to Lotti's original work, but to Zelenka's Dresden version of it, which is also to be heard on this recording.

"At the beginning of the 1730s, Johann Sebastian Bach, who like Zelenka had a large music library at his disposal, started collecting Latin sacred music by Italian composers. While doing so, he selected works of older masters as well as those of his own contemporaries, among these Lotti's 'Missa Sapientiae'. This copy of the Mass traces directly back to Zelenka's version, and was made in part by Bach, in part by a scribe. Whether Bach performed the 'Missa Sapientiae' in Leipzig is not known, at least no set of parts has been preserved. Moreover, the use in the 'Gloria in excelsis' of a variant of the eighth psalm tone not usual in the Protestant north may speak against a performance of the work in Leipzig. The reason for Bach's increased interest in Latin church music was his own productions of Masses which began at this time. They commenced with a 'Missa in B Minor' consisting of a 'Kyrie' and 'Gloria' - dedicated by Bach in Juli 1733 to the new Prince Elector of Saxony and Polish King Friedrich August II in the hope of acquiring a position at the Dresden court and future commissions. In later years, the Mass was completed to become the famous, large 'B-Minor Mass'.

"Lotti's 'Missa Sapientiae' was probably of interest to Bach in various respects: Lotti, as is generally known, numbered among the composers of whom the prince elector was particularly fond, and the Mass offered an opportunity to study a typical example of the Venetian tonal language. Moreover, the 'Missa Sapientiae' came quite close to the intended dimensions of the 'Missa in B Minor': In spite of the limitation to the 'Kyrie' and 'Gloria', both works call for a large instrumental ensemble, and the choir is expanded from four to five or six voices in individual passages. The division of the movements are similar in many respects, even if the 'Domine Deus' in Lotti is divided into three individual movements. In the first of these individual movements, 'Domine Deus, Rex coelestis', a violin (or alternately a flute in Zelenka's version) and a muted oboe concertize alongside the solo soprano, and are thus at least atmospherically reminiscent of Bach's corresponding setting. A conspicuous analogy in the instrumentation is found in the 'Quoniam tu solus', which in both cases features a soloistic brass instrument. Completely different from the 'Missa Sapientiae', Bach allows the 'Qui tollis' to develop in flowing transition out of the 'Domine Deus', whereas Lotti sets a clear caesura at the end of the 'Domine Deus', 'Agnus Dei' with a concluding fugue. Lottis link the following movements 'Qui tollis' and 'Qui sedes' in that he musically fashions the analogous text 'miserere nobis' nearly identically, and only a crass harmonic tension of the first section is not taken up again later. The choral writing of the 'miserere nobis' section is enveloped by the instruments in a delicate, typically Venetian carpet of sound that Bach unmistakably echos in the 'Crucifixus' of the 'B-Minor Mass'." (Thomas Krümpelmann. From the liner notes.)

"When Johann Sebastian Bach submitted his application for the position of Kantor at Leipzig's Thomaskirche, he already must have sensed that there was a considerable discrepancy between the supposed and the real performing ability of the choir of St. Thomas'. Indeed, Bach saw himself forced to strengthen the choir parts with trombones in his two audition pieces, the cantatas BWV 22 and 23. It can be assumed that this was due not to reasons of timbre, but primarily to insecurities in the performance. The abilities of the municipal musicians, too, were far from adequate, something that Bach realized only with time. After assuming his office at the end of May 1723, Bach went to work with great élan; perhaps he wanted to prove himself to those critics who viewed his appointment with skepticism. Almost all the works of his first year's cycle of cantatas are distinguished by their exceptional difficulty in comparison to the compositions of his predecessor Johann Kuhnae and those of his two co-candidate Georg Philipp Telemann and Christoph Graupner, who had been favored by the town council.

"Among the festive compositions of the year 1723, the 'Magnificat' occupies an outstanding position. For a long time, it was thought that the work was composed for Christmas 1723, since the score of the work, originally in E-flat Major, contains four interpolated Christmas movements. However, examination of the autograph score shows that the movements related to Christmas were later additions. It would seem obvious that the performance on 25 December 1723 was not the first; yet, since the composition was written in Leipzig - unequivocally proven by the paper of the score - it follows that the E-flat Major Magnificat, BWV 243a, was intended for the feast of the Visitation on 2 July 1723. On this day, which was solemnly celebrated in Leipzig - like the feast of the Purification on 2 February and the feast of the Annunciation on 25 March - the reading is song of praise to Mary from the Gospel of St. Luke; the work was not intended for the main church service, but rather for the vespers service in which the 'Magnificat' could be performed in Latin. This feast, five weeks after his assumption of office, was Bach's first chance to demonstrate his special talents - and the new Thomaskantor did not pass up the opportunity. Instead of the usual four-part vocal setting, the choral movements have been expanded to five parts; Bach found models for this in the library of the Thomasschule, since his predecessors Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau likewise preferred five-part writing with three high voices for festive compositions. It remains uncertain, though, how Bach was able to conceal the dearth of capable sopranos among the pupils of the Thomasschule.

"The biblical song of praise to Mary is - as in numerous other compositions of the time - broken down into its individual statements, which are set as chorale movements and arias. Unusual in Bach's way of treating the text is at all events the splitting off of the concluding words 'omnes generationes' in the 'Quia respexit', and their assignment to the choir. In this manner Bach emphasizes the generations who praise Mary. In spite of the brevity of the sentence fragment, he creates a choral section important for the balance of the work. The choice of text means that none of the arias are in the otherwise still pre-dominant da-capo form. Contrasts are achieved through the choice of new, closely related keys, various compositional techniques, and a varied instrumentation. The unity of the work is established by the use of the music of the opening chorus again for the doxology, the song of praise to God.

"By virtue of an old Leipzig tradition, which can be traced back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, the 'Magnificat', the song of praise to Mary, could be extended on Christmas by inserted movements related to the feast. In comparison to the better-known D-Major version, which recent research has shown to have been first performed on 2 July 1733, the E-flat Major version sounds fresher and, particularly in the trumpet parts, more radical, although at the expense of extreme technical demands. Perhaps the Leipzig town musicians or their superior had told the Cöthen court Kapellmeister, 'who at the beginning could not reconcile himself with the transition from Kapellmeister to Kantor', that they could play anything. Several years later Bach expressed himself about their abilities with great reservation: In the 'Entwurff einer wohlbestallten Kirchen Music' ('Plan for a well-appointed church music') of August 1730 it is tersely stated that decency prohibits him 'however from reporting anything approaching the truth about their qualities and musical skills.'

"The high range of the vocal parts, which was typical of Bach's Cöthen works, also seems to have caused problems at the performances in Leipzig. It is conceivable that Bach therefore had in mind a considerably lower pitch than was usual in Leipzig. The so-called French chamber pitch [...] is a whole tone lower than today's normal pitch and a semitone lower than the pitch usual during Bach's time [...]. The lower pitch adopted for the recording lends the strings and winds a more mellow timbre, which underscores the individual chracter of the E-flat Major version.

"In Bach's time, the pitch level was not standardized, and could therefore be chosen as required. As a result, the organ, which is fixed at a specific pitch level, had to transpose; and with many wind instruments there were several idiosyncracies that had to be taken into consideration, which could explain some of the differences in the instrumentation of the two versions. The revision of this work, which Bach undertook during the period of national mourning after the death of August the Strong, was intended to make the piece easier to perform by means of the transposition from E-flat to D Major, and above all with the simplification of the demanding and, when played on natural trumpets in E-flat, exceedingly difficult trumpet parts. Nevertheless, this revision resulted in a repertoire work no less brilliant." (Ulrich Leisinger, tr. Howard Weiner. From the liner notes.)

Performer: Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, Thomas Hengelbrock

1. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Kyrie. Kyrie Eleison

2. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Kyrie. Christe Eleison

3. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Kyrie. Kyrie Eleison

4. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Gloria In Excelsis

5. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Laudamus Te

6. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Gratias Agimus Tibi

7. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Domine Deus, Rex Coelestis

8. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Domine Fili

9. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei

10. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi

11. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Qui Sedes

12. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus

13. Antonio Lotti - Missa Sapientiae: Gloria. Cum Sancto Spiritu

14. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Magnificat Anima Mea

15. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Et Exultavit

16. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Von Himmel Hoch

17. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Quia Respexit

18. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Omnes Generationes

19. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Quia Fecit

20. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Freut Euch Und Jubiliert

21. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Et Misericordia Eius

22. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Fecit Potentiam

23. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Gloria In Excelsis

24. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Deposuit Potentes

25. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Esurientes Implevit

26. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Virga Jesse Floruit

27. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Suscepit Israel

28. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Sicut Locutus Est

29. Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat, BWV 243a: Gloria Patri Et Filio

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Ludwig August Lebrun; Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf; Antonio Salieri - Oboe Concertos

"Antonio Salieri, a pupil and friend of Gluck, has been well-nigh deliberately avoided by musical scholarship up to the present day. He was, however, an extremely accomplished composer of vocal music, who said of himself with excessive modesty that he had little skill in instrumental music and had for that reason written little of it. He wrote one triple concerto, dated 1770 on the autograph. The notation follows an old-fashioned practice, allowing for variability in the ensemble available to play the work: the solo parts are written out on staves between the bass and the strings, and the parts of the oboes and the kettle-drum - which is required only as a reinforcement in 'forte' passages - are written on separate sheets, signifying that they could be dispensed with.

"The first subject of the opening movement is given to the solo violin. With its somewhat inflexible head-motif (a Baroque descending fourt) and the convoluted figuration that it leads into, it sounds as if it originated in a 'fugato'. The imitative entries of the oboe and cello reinforce that impression. Traces of polyphonic thinking persist even in the tutti entry, in which the head-motif is involved in something like a fugal 'stretto'. The pregnant opening theme of the second movement, Cantabile, is stamped unmistakably by the prevalance of suspensions in the melodic material (feminine cadences) typical of early Classicism. This ternary movement has an extensive recapitulation which makes way for the 'terzettino' with a generous cadence. In the last movement (Andantino), an ebullient theme and seven variations, the separate soloists have the chance to show off a variety of style of playing a ornamentation. The last variation (tutti and concertino) is twice as long as the others and also has a coda.

"Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf was a violinist by vocation, but he owes his place in history to the German 'Singspiele' he wrote. In his richly anecdotal autobiography he refers to two oboe concertos commissioned in 1757 by the Count of Breda for his 'virtuoso oboists', although, as it turned out, Dittersdorf wrote only one of them. In their catalogue supplement of 1775 the publishers Breitkopf and Härtel list three oboe concertos, but none of them can be identified with the G major concerto.

"In the opening movement, the motto-like head-motif is diverted once into the sub-dominant and later freely elaborated by the solo oboist. The task of the soloist is ornamentation and variation, rather than 'working out' in the modern sense. The playful second subject, in the dominant, is given to the oboe exclusively. In the middle section - it cannot be called a 'development' - the soloist again embarks on a subject in the dominant which is also eschewed by the tutti. The conventional thematic separation of soloist and tutti is thus still in evidence.

"In the Adagio Dittersdorf succeeds in introducing a Romantic atmosphere, by effects of instrumentation. The third movement can be described as a free concerto movement in several sections, with a multiplicity of themes. The soloist takes over the vigorous first subject from the tutti, at first repeating it note for note, but then develops it freely and leads into the dominant. Having arrived there, the soloist is given two new subjects which the tutti answers with a theme of its own. New motivic material is added during the course of the multiple exchange between soloist and tutti, until the first subject reasserts itself towards the end and establishes the concluding tonality.

"Ludwig August Lebrun was a member of the Mannheim orchestra from 1764 until his death and was regarded as one of the leading oboists of his day. His compositions - ballets, concertos and a variety of chamber works - testify to the high standards of the musical training of orchestral players of that period. His reputation was spread throughout the cultural centres of Europe by the many tours he undertook. Lebrun 'enchants 'le tout Paris' with his divine oboe', the critic Schubart enthused in 1775.

"We possess quite a number of oboe concertos by Lebrun. The D minor concerto probably dates from the mid-1770s. The opening movement already typifies the modern Mannheim concerto style with an extensive double exposition, although the soloist's part still allows free development after the first period. The attractive F major subject is introduced without a caesura by the oboe; transposed into the tonic minor it establishes itself as second subject in the recapitulation. The middle section can be described as a 'development' in the later sense, because the first subject, but not the second, is motivically elaborated. Its appearance in E-flat major creates at first the illusion of a recapitulation, but the real recapitulation is not reached until the return to D minor has been effected. The final section is dominated by virtuoso figuration.

"Lebrun wrote a solemn theme of remarkable richness for the Grazioso of the second movement. The soloist dominates the ternary movement for almost the whole of its extent, and exchange with the tutti are reduced to only a few bars.

"The last movement begins in careless rapture, with a theme constructed by sequential repetition. It soon reveals itself as an exemplary Mannheim rondo. The third of the soloists three pregnant couplets alludes to the triple rhythm of the Moravian dance called the Hanacca. The last refrain is extended in a manner that, after a reticent but structurally important 'ritardando', allows an extra refrain to be added. The concerto is an impressive work, and reveals Lebrun as a technically competent composer and one of the progressives of the time, who anticipated the cyclical formal integration of the Classical age." (Heinz Becker, tr. Mary Whittall. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Camerata Bern, Thomas Füri, Heinz Holliger

1. Ludwig August Lebrun - Oboe Concerto In D Minor: I. Allegro

2. Ludwig August Lebrun - Oboe Concerto In D Minor: II. Grazioso

3. Ludwig August Lebrun - Oboe Concerto In D Minor: III. Allegro

4. Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf - Oboe Concerto In G Major: I. Maestoso

5. Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf - Oboe Concerto In G Major: II. Adagio

6. Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf - Oboe Concerto In G Major: III. Allegro

7. Antonio Salieri - Triple Concerto In D Major: I. Allegro

8. Antonio Salieri - Triple Concerto In D Major: II. Cantabile

9. Antonio Salieri - Triple Concerto In D Major: III. Andantino

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Giacinto Scelsi - Complete Works for Flute & Clarinet

"Receiving an education appropriate to his noble birth, he displayed from childhood an exceptional musical sensibility but had no professional training, learning only the rudiments of traditional harmony from Giacinto Sallustio. Lengthy periods abroad kept him from any direct influence of Italian music between the wars; his wanderings took him to Geneve, where he studied under Egon Koehler (a musician whose ideas related to those of Scriabin, and who thus provided Scelsi with a most congenial apprenticeship), and to Vienna, where he worked on 12-note serial technique with Walter Klein (1935-36). In 1951 he settled in Rome, where chiefly as a member of the 'Nuova Consonanza' association, he organized concerts of contemporary music. He wrote a number of musical-philosophical essays - mostly unpublished, except for those contributed in 1943-45 to 'La Suisse contemporaine' - and three collections of poetry in French, published in Paris in 1949, 1954 and 1962.

"Since music is, for Scelsi, an intuitive link with the transcendental and involves the annulment of creative individuality (like in Asia's religions), the countless changes in style contributing to the non-professional features of his vast output should be regarded as pure phenomena, which merely embody a spiritual process substantially unchanging.

"To explore another -third- dimension - the depth of sound (in contrast to the other two dimensions pitch and duration) Scelsi wrote several pieces for wind-instruments (1953-58): 'Quays' and 'Pwyll' for flute, 'Preghiera per un ombra', 'Tre studi' and 'Ixor' for clarinet, 'Tre pezzi' for the instruments: trumpet, saxophone, horn as well as trombone.

"By the 1950s, as outwardly instanced in his abandonment of conventional for exotic or esoteric titles, Scelsi turned increasingly towards the asceticism of eastern art. Technically this involved a significant modification of the unrelieved motivic procedures previously characterizing his music. Such a modification reached an extreme point in the intriguing 'Quattro pezzi (su una nota sola)' for orchestra (1959) as well as in 'Ko-Lho' for flute & clarinet (1966), each piece being based on a single note held throughout, with attention focused on its smallest variations of rhythm, dynamics or pitch in a manner that suggests comparison with meditative practice.

"Moreover, the micro-intervallic writing so poignantly exploited in these works - and further developed, chiefly in compositions for strings, such as his last three quartets, 'Xnoybis', 'L'âme ouverte' - gave way to that inclusion of sound material outside the tempered system which in due led him to make use even of clusters ('Action music' for piano) and 'musique concrète' ('Prânam I' for voice, 12 instruments and tape). Not until the 80s people became occupied with his work especially in Germany where he gained nearly cultic adoration - in contrast to his homeland Italy where only radical circles supported his music. The interest of foreign composers such as Ligeti, Feldman and Nono ended his lifelong isolation.

"'Piccola Suite' (1953). This piece is not a fusion of the sonority of the two instruments as in 'Ko-Lho' but a highly virtuoso (1st and 3rd movement) combination of two independent solo parts based on Scelsi's principle of variations (see also 'Pwyll'). Despite this independence, the audience experiences the development of a true dialogue in a fascinating manner. The pastoral final movement is perhaps the most reminiscent of a suite: traditionally written as a melody with accompaniment, it has a very calming effect after the agitating music of the preceding movements.

"'Quays' was written in 1953. It is possible to perform 'Quays' with either the alto or normal flute. Both versions have been authorized by the composer. On this recording I choose the version with the normal flute because of its brightness in ornamental passages.

"The main compositional idea involves the 'principle of central tones', in this case the notes B, C, and D are used (in all octaves). 'Quays' can be divided into several sections. The slow, calm beginning is soon followed by a more active and dramatic middle section.

"'Preghiera per un'ombra' (1954) ('Prayer for a Shadow'). The unusually concrete title describes the situation of the musician playing this piece: driven by the heat of the music, to the limits of what is technically possible. The work lives from rapid changes in register, creating at times the effect of a polyphonic piece.

"'Pwyll', composed in 1954 for flute, is closely connected to Scelsi's piano compositions, especially to his 'Suite No. 10, Ka'. It is based on Scelsi's technique of variation. The insistent repetition of a single tone figure is not to be confused with stereotype repetition; it is above all the new creation, translation, revelation, of a previously hidden dimension.

"'Tre studi' (1954) is a well-rounded cycle of three pieces written for the E-flat clarinet. Scelsi consciously abstains from using the extreme range of the E-flat clarinet so as to achieve a greater flexibility in sonority. The lively first movement is characterized by large leaps of upward-moving intervals. The second movement shows clear references to the first movement but the narrow tonal range is further differentiated by quarter-tones and glissandi and intensified by an exceedingly virtuoso middle section. The very spirited third movement is a synthesis of the two other movements; it swings between calm and, in contrast to the first movement - a more agitated movement, which also integrates the quarter-tones and the glissandi of the second movement.

"'Rucke di guck' (1957). Similar in its conception to the 'Piccola Suite' (except for the last movement), Scelsi intensifies the virtuoso character and sharpness of the music by using the piccolo flute and oboe (here in a recording with piccolo flute and E-flat clarinet), pushing the musicians to the limits of what is technically possible.

"In addition to the orchestral piece 'Quattro pezzi', 'Ko-Lho' (1966) indisputably marks the pinnacle of Scelsi's career. The work is a synthesis of early working methods and his new orientation toward microtonality. Despite its calm, flowing character it is chracterized by an extremely differentiated rhythm that Scelsi gradually abandons in favour of a complex sonority, which he achieves with microtonality and an emphasis on shaping the individual tone (crescendi, vibrati, glissandi, tremoli).

"In 'Xnoybis' (1964) this development becomes quite clear. The first movement contains rhythmic subtleties similar to 'Ko-Lho'. The second movement has a flowing quality; instead of whole-tone trills Scelsi introduces quarter-tone tremoli in a rhythmic pattern. The tonal range of the third movement is limited, ranging only from C' to F''. Here Scelsi replaces the quarter-tone tremoli with tremoli and vibrati of different timbres.

"In 'L'âme ailée' (1974) a further step is taken in this direction. Scelsi once again restricts the register of the instruments, eliminates the rhythmic details (there is now only a pulsating quarter beat), and further reduces the tonal range to that of just one second.

"The small tonal tange, the lengthening of time values, as well as the variability in the dynamics create an effect of force and counterforce. This development of space within the passage of time is related to alap, the slow introduction of Indian ragas.

"'L'âme ouverte' (1974) is even more radical. The player is instructed to count the beats created between two neighbouring tones! In pure physical terms, however, this contradicts Scelsi's use of quarter and eighth tones. In our recording we have chosen to play a version with audible beats.

"A few words about the arrangement of the work 'Xnoybis', 'L'âme ailée' and 'L'âme ouverte' for flute and clarinet. These pieces place high technical demands on the solo violinist, requiring, for example, opposing dynamics, glissandi, vibrati, quarter and eighth-tones to be played simultaneously on two strings. This certainly justifies and arrangement for two instruments - in our case flute and clarinet in B - especially since Scelsi had already investigated the 'third dimension', microtonal sonority, with wind instruments, for example in 'Ko-Lho', written for flute and clarinet.

"'Maknongan' (1976) pour un instrument grave ou voix de basse. One of Scelsi's most ascetic pieces. It demands a complete immersion in one note (G-sharp), the differentiation of the finest nuances in sonority, and clearly shows Scelsi's interest in the abundant overtones in instruments with a deep range as well as voices (also recognizable in leaps to the next higher octave). Glissandi and quarter-tones lead the piece to its final note, G.

"'Krishna e Radha' is a joint composition originated in recorded improvisations of Giacinto Scelsi and Carin Levine. Scelsi entitled the piece 'Krishna e Radha'. Krishna e Radha are two characters described in the ancient Hinduistic Gita-Govinda poems from 1100 B.C. This piece should be performed with alight playfulness - conveying two musicians casually enjoying an evening in the company of their instruments and one another." (Stefan Fischer, tr. Anne Heritage. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Ebony-Duo

1. Piccola Suite: I. 

2. Piccola Suite: II. 

3. Piccola Suite: III. 

4. Piccola Suite: IV. 

5. Quays

6. Preghiera Per Un'ombra

7. Pwyll

8. Rucke Di Guck: I. 

9. Rucke Di Guck: II. 

10. Rucke Di Guck: III. 

11. Ko-Lho: I. 

12. Ko-Lho: II. 

13. Tre Studi: I. 

14. Tre Studi: II. 

15. Tre Studi: III. 

16. Xnoybis: I. 

17. Xnoybis: II. 

18. Xnoybis: III. 

19. Krishna E Radha

20. Maknongan

21. L'âme Ouverte

22. L'âme Ailée

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