Skip to content

Giacinto Scelsi

Country: Italy

Giacinto Scelsi was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French. He is best known for writing music based around only one pitch, altered in all manners through microtonal oscillations, harmonic allusions, and changes in timbre and dynamics, as paradigmatically exemplified in his revolutionary Quattro Pezzi su una nota sola ["Four Pieces on a single note"] (1959).

Canti Del Capricorno (LP)
First album with the full cicle of songs by the outstanding and influential Italian composer sung by their dedicatee, privately recorded in 1969 (featuring Alvin Curran) and 1981 and released by Wergo in 1987.
New Music For String Quartet (LP)
Compositions for string quartet spanning from 1949 to 1965 released on Mainstream's avant-garde series directed by Earle Brown.
Quattro Pezzi / Pranam II / Okanagon / Kya (LP)
condition (record/cover): NM/EX Gatefold sleeve.  Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), one of the most enigmatic figures of 20th-century music, presents four essential works exploring his revolutionary approach to sound. Scelsi's radical music focuses on the…
Musique Sacrée (LP)
condition (record/cover): NM/NM Gatefold sleeve. A profound exploration of sacred music by one of Italy's most enigmatic composers! Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), whose work remained largely unknown until late in his career, created a unique compositio…
Annum Per Annum
1995 release ** Contemporary music for organ by Arvo Pärt, John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi.
Scelsi, Byzantium, The Alchemists
1994 release ** "From the Byzantine Alleluia that begins this ritual to the Scelsi Alleluia that brings it to a close, a circular program weaves a path through the world of Christian theology, Jewish tradition and alchemy, brought together by the uni…
Flutes & Percussions
2011 release ** Works for flute and percussion by Petros Korelis, Jacques Di Tucci, Roger Lersy, François Rosse, Alain Féron, Giacinto Scelsi, Yoshihisa Taira, Jean-Yves Naviner.
Chamber Works For Flute And Piano
1998 release  ** "For the first time, we can hear Giacinto Scelsi playing piano! It's short (3:51) and the recording quality substandard, but Scelsi's improvisation with Carin Levine, Krishna e Radha, gives a window into the mind of one of the greats…
Anahit / Mikka / Mikka “S”/ Strung Out
Absolutely essential 1976 ambient/modern classical compilation of solo violin music by three legendary composers.
Outre-Nuit
Outre-nuit as Outre-noir by Pierre Soulages, the greatest nuances on subtle variations. The programme can be listened to in one go between Clara's two compositions, it's Xnoybis, an extraordinary performance by the great Giacinto Scelsi - a piece tha…
Rome Open Music Experience
*2024 stock* "Rome: not only the capital city of Italy, but also an acronym standing for Roman Aleatoric Music Experience. The three musicians of the Rib Trio, featured in this Da Vinci Classics album are all among the leading experts in the field, a…
Suite 8 & 11 per pianoforte
Giacinto Scelsi (1905–1988) is one of the most unusual composers of the twentieth century, a unique figure whose importance was only fully recognized and celebrated after his death. During his lifetime, he was often dismissed, especially in Italy, as…
Canti Del Capricorno
*2022 stock* Giacinto Scelsi wrote the twenty Canti del Capricorno between 1962 and 1972 for and with the Japanese singer Michiko Hirayama, who inspired them and who for decades remained their unique performer. The cycle is for solo voice, with instr…
Sfera
Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) was an Italian composer and rather unusual pioneer of electronic music. His works are neither based on traditional techniques nor do they resemble concepts of the 'new music' avant-garde. Since the 1950s he recorded improv…
Works for Violin and for Viola
** In process of stocking ** Giacinto Scelsi (La Spezia, 1905 – Rome, 1988) is one of the most original Italian composers of the twentieth century. Musician and poet of aristocratic descent, Scelsi spent his childhood in his family’s castle, in Valva…
Suite No​.​9 / Quattro Illustrazioni / Un Adieu
Shira Legmann is an Israeli concert pianist, with a wide repertoire from Baroque to contemporary and experimental music. This album contains three piano works by Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi: Suite No.9 "Ttai" (1953), Quattro Illustrazioni (1953)…
Yamaon
Yamaon (1954-1958) for bass, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, contra bassoon, percussion and doublebass is one of the wildest and most direct works of Scelsis. Just as the composition I presagi completed in the same year, the title warns of the destr…
The Orchestral Works 2
Three orchestral works by Giacinto Scelsi recorded in Vienna in 2005: Quattro Pezzi (su una nota sola), Uaxuctum, and the first recording of La Nascita del Verbo, with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and choirs.
Music For High Winds
Giacinto Scelsi's music for high winds, solo and duo pieces for clarinet, flute, piccolo and oboe written between 1953 and 1970, played by Carol Robinson, Clara Novakova and Cathy Milliken. Volume 3 of Mode's Scelsi Edition.
The Orchestral Works 1: Hymnos, Hurqualia, Konx-Om-Pax
Volume 2 of Mode's Scelsi Edition: the orchestral works Hymnos, Hurqualia and Konx-Om-Pax, played by the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and Concert Choir under Juan Pablo Izquierdo, interspersed with Canti del Capricorno sung by Pauline Vaillancourt an…
The Works for Violin
The first complete recording of Giacinto Scelsi's works for solo violin, including the first recording of Divertimento No. 2, played by Weiping Lin, assistant concertmaster of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Earle Brown Contemporary Sound Series Vol. 4
"Wergo's reissues of the legendary Earle Brown Contemporary Sound Series have been a big hit with fans of contemporary music around the world. Each set is a treasure-trove of works by a wide range of composers, performed by some of the finest musicia…
The Piano Works 4
Fourth volume of Giacinto Scelsi's piano works: Hispania, Suite No. 5 Il Circo and Suite No. 6 I Capricci di Ty, three first recordings of large early works from the 1930s, played by Stephen Clarke.
Complete Works For Clarinet
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, demonstr…
Tre Canti Popolari + Due Componimenti Impetuosi
2CD collection which re-releases two previous Sub Rosa CDs Tre Canti Popolari (SR 051CD, 1992) and Due Componimenti Impetuosi (SR 063CD, 1995), now remastered and with a new design. This is the vocal and piano music of visionary Italian composer G…
The orchestral works 1
Scelsi Edition volume 2: three rarely recorded orchestral works, Hymnos, Hurqualia and Konx-Om-Pax, played by the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under Juan Pablo Izquierdo, with selections from Canti del Capricorno sung by Pauline Vaillancourt and Doug…
Integrale de la musique de chambre
Long deleted, this is a must have cd collecting all the Scelsi pieces for string orchestra. "An internal struggle, stemming from the introductory tremolo, all through its serene yet chaotic means of lumonisity"
Canti Del Capricorno
Original copy, the title of Scelsi's song cycle possibly refers to the fact that the sign of the Capricorn corresponds with an area of the Earth stretching from India to South America and includes, most significantly, the Amazon. The Amazon, as Scels…
Action Music
Giacinto Scelsi’s relationship with the piano is interesting and contradictory. For no other instrument has the Italian composer and poet composed so many pieces; to no other instrument does he seem so closely attached, both personally and biographic…
Natura renovatur
Giacinto Scelsi  (1905-88) has featured prominently in my music writing life for a decade and a half, ever since I wrote  Discovering Scelsi  on my first computer for Piano Journal (Oct. 1986), one of the first UK articles about this fascinating and …
Complete Works for Flûte and Clarinet
The Complete Works for Flute and Clarinet: In both original works and transcriptions, the Ebony Duo explores Scelsi’s use of special sound colors and his coloring of sound. Transcriptions especially prepared by the clarinetist (and pianist) Michael R…
Quattro illustrazioni / Suite N° 8 \"Bot-Ba\" / Cinque incantesi
Crazy about the sound: the composer as a medium fHis bizarre way of composing earned Giacinto Scelsi not only fame and respect; he was also mockingly accused of dilettantism. Scelsi regarded himself not as a composer in the traditional sense, i.e. on…
Ho Khoom Pranam
an original copy of an awesome Scelsi LP, featuring Hô (1960) - Four melodies for solo voices. Pranam I (1972) - (In memory of the tragic loss of Jani and Sia Christou) for voice, 12 instruments and tape. Khoom (1962) - (Seven episodes of a story of …
The works of double bass
The first complete recording of Giacinto Scelsi's music for double bass, played by Robert Black with guests on cello, harp, tam-tam and second bass, including Ko-Tha in Fernando Grillo's transcription.
Pranam II for ensemble
It is scored for two flutes, violin, viola, cello, bass clarinet and electric organ. This is a really beautiful piece of tranquil music, full of touching sweetness.
Collection vol.1
The first in a series of recordings devoted to the music of Giacinto Scelsi, devised by Stradivarius in conjunction with the Isabella Scelsi Foundation. The series comprises new, original recordings made in 2005, marking the hundredth anniversary of …
The Piano Works 1
First volume of Mode's Scelsi Edition and of the traversal of his piano works: Giacinto Scelsi's Sonatas No. 2 and No. 4 and the nine-movement suite Ttai, played by Louise Bessette.
Suite 9 & 10 per Pianoforte
Giacinto Scelsi's Suite n. 9 "Ttai" (1953) and Suite n. 10 "Ka" (1954) for piano, played by Sabine Liebner, recorded in 2014 at the Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal in Cologne.
Giacinto Scelsi
**Comes in glossy gatefold sleeve with 20-page booklet ** Features 6 works by the influential Italian avant-gardist of the 20th century, dating from 1961-1990. Pranam I (for voice, 12 instruments and tape, 1972); Anagamin. Celui qui choisit de reveni…
The piano works 3
Aki Takahashi plays Giacinto Scelsi's piano works in 2005 recordings, mostly pieces she prepared with the composer, including the Quattro Illustrazioni depicting the incarnations of Vishnu.