Giacinto Scelsi, Iannis Xenakis, Philip Glass, Paul Zukofsky

  A rare original copy of excellent solo violin music performed by Paul Zufovsky, on CP² Records (CP²/6) from 1976. This album, the sixth release by CP² Recordings, features an early composition by Philip Glass as well as pieces by Giacinto Scelsi, Iannis Xenakis.
Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi is probably best known for his compositions based around a single pitch. “Anahit”, however, was composed for violin and small orchestra. Xenakis' “Mikka” and “Mikka S" explore string glissandos, and are his only two compositions for solo violin. Glass' “Strung Out”, 21 minutes of feverishly monotonous notes for solo amplified violin, was composed in 1967 at a time of transition towards a more minimal style. Philip Glass achieves a meditative flow of sound full of conventionally consonant intervals. He attains his ends through the tightly structured interaction of contrapuntal lines, built up on additive principles that owe much to the visual work of such artists as Sol Lewitt and to Glass's early notions of the nature of East Indian music. Much of Glass's early music has come out on his own label, Chatham Square ("Music with Changing Parts" 2LP and “Music In Similar Motion" LP, also offered here). His early production also includes a record on the French Shandar label (“Solo Music”, available here too), which specializes in American experimental jazz and avant-gardism, of two early pieces for single or double electronic keyboard.