HurdAudio Rotation: Resonant Bodies, Resonant Souls

John Luther Adams: The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies. 2006. Cantaloupe Music: CA21034.

The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies
-burst
-rumble
-shimmer
-roar
-thunder
-wail
-crash
-stutter

Steven Schick: percussion

A work of incredibly austere purity. Each movement focusing on the layering of a single percussive instrument to reveal the complex beauty and interplay of enharmonic partials piled up over time. A complexity made aural through a simplicity of execution. This is music that builds upon James Tenney's Having Never Written A Note For Percussion and Steve Reich's Drumming to add an impressive strain of thought into the percussion repertoire. It also builds upon a sensibility of ritual and meditative trance as the textures are presented over a long period of time. Sonically and conceptually impressive.

Tom Ze: Fabrication Defect: Com Defeito De Fabricacao. 1998. Luaka Bop/Warner Brothers: 946953-2.

Tom Ze: lead vocals, acoustic guitar, bochexaxado (cheek xaxado), rubber balloon on tooth
Dino Barioni: guitar
Marcos Di Santis: trombone
Gilberto Assis: bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals, rabe ca (Hill Billy violin), baixolao
Jarbas Mariz: percussion, 12-string guitar, mandolin, bottles, vocals
Marco Prado: bongo, 10-string guitar
Lauro Lellis: drums
Cristina Carneiro: vocal, keyboards, bottles
Luanda: vocals
Nilza Maria: vocals
+ many guest musicians

A message from the people outside the circle of wealthy and "developed" nations that they have rich lives not bound by the service and identities of the powerful. A concept album expressing the determination to dance and dream in defiance of serving external interests along with a healthy disrespect for the ownership class of copyrights and property. World music without the nauseating packaging associated with that label. A concept album that continues to stand up and deliver.

Giacinto Scelsi: Natura Renovatur. 2006. ECM Records: ECM New Series 1963 476 3106.

Frances-Marie Uitti: cello
Munchener Kammerorchester
Christoph Poppen: conductor

Ohoi (1966) for 16 strings
Ave Maria (1970) for violoncello solo
Anagamin (1965) for 11 strings
Ygghur (1961) for violoncello solo
Natura renovatur (1967) for 11 strings
Alleluja (1970) for violoncello solo

Francis-Marie Uitti's solo cello performances of the Three Latin Prayers for solo voice is one of the more sensual attractions of this collection of Scelsi works. It is a curious programming choice to split the three prayers between works for larger string ensembles. A sequencing choice that reveals two parallel tracks to Scelsi's aesthetic voice that are incredibly attractive at an aural level. This particular recording of Natura renovatur is exquisite. It is clearly an important work in the Scelsi catalogue worthy of multiple interpretations. At the same time, the three prayers remain separated from each other as a voice of spiritual (and at times achingly lyrical) expression that deserves to be performed and programmed into a cohesive whole. Leaving the ears hungry for a full disc of solo cello works performed by the incomparable Uitti as a way of immersing in that one, singular dimension of Scelsi's music with an artist and collaborator most qualified to present it.

HurdAudio Rotation: Concord, Cash and Khoom

Henry Brant: The Henry Brant Collection, Volume 7: A Concord Symphony. 2007. Innova: 414.

Henry Brant: orchestration of the Charles Ives Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies: conductor

This is such a brilliant reinforcement of two major branches of American new music. The mixture of Henry Brant's profound understanding of the music and ethos of Charles Ives with the personality and levity of Brant's own personality producing an orchestration that is completely on target for the gravity and expression of Ives' monumental piano work. The instrumentation opens up new shading into the rich substance of this piece. A valuable "collaboration" that deserves its own position in any repertoire of American identity.

Johnny Cash: Love, God, Murder. 2000. Sony Music Entertainment: C3K 63809.

Compilations produced by Johnny Cash.
Co-Produced by Steve Berkowitz and Al Quaglieri

It's hard to argue with compilations hand picked by Johnny Cash constructed around the themes of Love, God and Murder (on three separate discs). Each successive collection burrowing deeper into a raw nerve of human emotional tolls. But then, it's never wise to argue with the man in black. The deceptive simplicity bolstered by conviction and understanding. A willingness to speak out for the downtrodden without becoming more or less than any of us. A sense of faith without preaching or self righteousness. Johnny Cash was a rare soul.

Giacinto Scelsi: 5 String Quartets/String Trio/Khoom. 2002. Naive: MO 782156.

Arditti String Quartet:
Irvine Arditti: violin
David Alberman: violin
Levine Andrade: viola
Rohan De Saram: cello
plus
Michiko Hirayama: voice
Maurizio Ben Omar: percussion
Frank Lloyd: horn
Aldo Brizzi: conductor

String Quartet No. 1 (1944)
String Trio (1958)
String Quartet No. 2 (1961)
Khoom for piano 6 players (1962)
String Quartet No. 3 (1963)
String Quartet No. 4 (1964)
String Quartet No. 5 (1974/85)

Still one of my favorite narratives played out in abstract sound. The evolution of Giacinto Scelsi as he became his iconic (and eccentric) self. A progression from non-tonal ideas and aesthetic into the timbral obsessions and extreme textures that make Scelsi so important. Listening to his string writing from the first quartet through the fifth is an exercise in hearing personal growth unfold.

Drowning Ghosts

San Francisco Symphony: Mahler '09 Festival
Michael Tilson Thomas: conductor
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA

Hymnos (1963) Giacinto Scelsi
Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor (1901) Gustav Mahler

The restricted note content of Hymnos - enriched by microtonal variation and overtone spectrum scattered through two "mirrored" orchestras and organ - is composed in a manner that produces an unearthly phantom "choir" sound of difference tones that hovers in the invisible ether beyond the performers on stage. A psycho acoustic effect referenced by the title of the piece. A fleeting glimpse into the transcendent sonic spaces Scelsi explored through meditation and his singular fixation on tone. It's one of the qualities that makes Hymnos such a compelling work.

This phantom choir did not appear at Saturday night's performance. Subdued - or scared off - by the multitude of mortal humans in the concert hall. But mostly drowned out by volume. The unearthly choir of difference tones is easily dissipated by performing too loudly. Which is understandable given the extreme courage it takes to operate at low volume levels in a room full of restless souls squirming and coughing throughout the concert hall. This particular performance was prefaced by a long introduction and explanation of Giacinto Scelsi's aesthetic from Michael Tilson Thomas. Downplaying the intensity of spirituality, meditation and insanity and the roles each respectively plays within Scelsi's music at the expense of over emphasizing his eccentricities is perhaps the correct manner for introducing the uninitiated to this incredible sonic universe. Though I think some of this earnest desire to make the music more broadly appealing may have played a role in softening - in this case "loudening" - a performance more closely attuned to its origins. Meditation as ritual and exotic recourse as opposed to looking unflinchingly within.

Even with these compromises, Hymnos took on brilliant qualities as various details of the composition emerged from the stage. It is an amazing piece that prismatically allows different sonic elements to emerge given any range interpretive liberties. I suspect the phantom choir is absent more often than not.

The second "half" (splitting a program into an 11-minute "half" and a 70-minute "half" making for an oddly unnecessary intermission) featured the workhorse Mahler Symphony No. 5 that most in the hall were there to hear. No introduction. No explanation. Just the sprawling, late-Romantic score unfolding within a language co-opted for nearly a century of Hollywood film scores written in its wake. Moments of exquisite orchestration and arranging glued together with legato string lines. And devilishly well crafted crescendos into crowd pleasing codas. A pleasant piece that draws upon the pathos of Gustav Mahler that not-so-subtly evokes the ghosts of another era. A work that is loud by design, and the symphony played it that way.

Mob Testimony

Mobtown Modern: More Than Words
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD

Lipstick by Jacob ter Veldhuis
Katayoon Hodjati: flute

Manto III by Giacinto Scelsi
Wendy Richman: viola, voice

Les Corps A Corps by Georges Aperghis
Tim Feeney: percussion, voice

Zansetsu by Ken Ueno
Ken Ueno: voice, electronic processing, pop rocks

Shy Girl Shouting Music by Missy Mazzoli
Julieanne Klein: soprano
Steve Lesche: guitar
Joel Ciaccio: bass
Devin Hurd: piano

The reclusive Italian baron Giacinto Scelsi reportedly prefered having his music performed by women. The plaintive, aching beauty of Wendy Richman's performance of Manto III held many of the haunting, spiritually taut and breathlessly intense qualities that bear the distinct mark of Scelsi's music. The one-person interplay between voice and viola held the moments in suspended animation as the tension and frailty mined the singularity of focus that Scelsi's music accomplishes in the expansive, other worldly way of his own devising. Not just "more than words," this was a fleeting glimpse into a sounding universe drawn out by Richman's attentive focus to the subtle dynamic terrain and intuitive feel that bears out Scelsi's expressed preference for performances by her gender.

The "masculine" contrast to the brittle, reserved textures of Scelsi came in the form of composer/performer Ken Ueno's forceful amplification of his own extended voice techniques in Zansetsu. Here the texture is built up from an unflinching exploration of the biological components of the human voice, culminating in the chemical fizzure of dissovling Pop Rocks candy brought into close proximity to the microphone. The theatrical gesture of tearing open the bag of candy, consuming its contents and tossing away the emptied wrapper provided a punctuated moment of bravado and swagger before drawing the ears back into a sound thick with both process and processing.

With Lipstick, Jacob ter Veldhuis takes a pre-rendered track of voice samples as an accompanying rhythm track that the flute meets with percussive finger pads and swirling runs (beautifully executed by Katayoon Hodjati) that develop an expressive tension between pre-rendered source and live performance. The fractured language becomes the basis of jagged groove.

Les Corpse A Corpse builds upon the sound of percussion. Tim Feeney began by performing with a vocal sol fege of drum-like syllables to accompany his own physical drumming. The punctuating impacts of hand upon membrane triggering a clear change in the simple light structure sitting directly behind him as an added visual corollary. The composition then slowly weaves in the heavy concrete of words that form sentences over time. These were introduced deliberately, without warning, before returning with increasing development over regular intervals.

It is difficult to imagine how one perceives Shy Girl Shouting Music without having approached it through study, rehearsal and the perspective of playing it from behind the piano. What began as a rhythmic study, at times demanding in its independence between the four performers, unfolded into a surprising gem that supports the oddly reserved vocal part through a persistent thrashing in the instrumental parts. The jagged sense of groove, bordering on the funky side of Conlon Nancarrow, has piqued my curiosity for Missy Mazzoli's bandsemble Victoire.

With a focus on voice, and occasionally words, "More Than Words" unfolded layers of contrast along the soft tissue of a connecting theme. With the visual component of Guy Werner's lighting and video accompaniment the Mobtown Modern have again created a new music experience that draws in ears and minds with a mix of cohesion and music that is challenging without hostility. Reveling in the variety found on the creative fringe.

HurdAudio Rotation: Thinking, Dancing, Dreaming

Ornette Coleman: Sound Grammar. 2006. Sound Grammar: SG 11593.

Ornette Coleman: saxophone, violin, trumpet
Denardo Coleman: drums, percussion
Gregory Cohen: bass
Tony Falanga: bass

Ornette Coleman remains the creative force he's always been. The shape of jazz past, present and things yet to come. He's honed his harmolodic instincts into a molten sound that takes on resounding hues with the quartet assembled for this date. The arco bass, pizzicato bass and ragged drumming of Denardo forms an ideal rhythm section for melodic turns of breath taking angularity. At its core, this music is about bringing players together and drawing out from within. And when it works, which it does completely on this recording, it makes for a sound that is intensely human and at ease within its own shifting restlessness.

Tom Ze: Fabrication Defect: Com Defeito De Fabricacao. 1998. Luka Bop, Inc/Warner Bros.: 946953-2.

Tom Ze: lead vocals, acoustic guitar, bochexaxado (cheek xaxado), rubber balloon on tooth
Dino Barioni: guitar
Marcos Di Santis: trombone
Gilberto Assis: bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals, rabe ca (Hill Billy violin), baixolao
Jarbas Mariz: percussion, 12-string guitar, mandolin, bottles, vocals
Marco Prado: bongo, 10-string guitar
Lauro Lellis: drums
Cristina Carneiro: vocal, keyboards, bottles
Luanda: vocals
Nilza Maria: vocals
+ many guest musicians

Where has this exquisite concept album been these past ten years and why isn't it a wide spread obsession? The "first world" is put on notice by the "third world" that the growing population outside our comfortable borders will continue to think, dance and dream. To quote from Ze: "In the eyes of the first world, we in the third world who think these things, and who explore our reality on the planet, are like 'androids' who are essentially defective. To have ideas, to compose, for instance, is to dare. In the dawn of history, the idea of gathering vegetable fibers and inventing the art of weaving took great courage. To think will always be considered an effrontery." The cultural insularity that this music and these ideas puncture makes Fabrication Defect a potent listening experience that speaks with authority on how the quality of arrangements and inspired ideas leads toward expressions of enormous cultural and human value. It rocks, it swings and it adds new wrinkles to the brain. It confronts the insipid marketing label of "world music" and its segregated inclusiveness and boldly mocks the imaginary safety of thinking, dancing and dreaming in any geography or socio-economic reality.

Giacinto Scelsi: Natura Renovatur. 2006. ECM: 1963.

Francis-Marie Uitti: solo cello
Munchener Kammerorchester
Muriel Cantoreggi, Max Peter Meis, Romuald Kozik, Clara Baek, Michaela Buchholz, Viktor Konjaev, Bernhard Jestl, Mary Mader: violins
Kelvin Hawthorne, Nancy Sullivan, Stefan Berg, Aidan Pendleton: violas
Peter Bachmann, Michael Weiss, Benedikt Jira, Claudia Weiss: cellos
Veronika Papai: bass
Christoph Poppen: conductor

Ohoi - for 16 strings (1966)
Ave Maria - for solo cello (1970)
Anagamin - for 11 strings (1965)
Ygghur - for solo cello (1961)
Natura renovatur - for 11 strings (1967)
Alleluja - for solo cello (1970)

Scelsi's reclusive intensity has particular resonance with his compositions for strings. The solo cello works - especially Ygghur written and dedicated specifically for Frances-Marie Uitti - are the primary attraction on this disc as the quiet solitude envelopes the single performer. The ensemble pieces are incredible compositions, offering a glimpse into the eccentric meditations of the Italian Barron. The conceptual attractiveness of the textures and forms have unusual gravity. But once Uitti's bow starts tracing the outline of Scelsi's Latin Prayers the exceptional access this performer had with this composer takes on a tangible quality that makes this listening experience something else.

HurdAudio Rotation: Emerson, Hawthorne, The Alcotts, Thoreau, Love, God, Murder and Scelsi

Henry Brant: The Henry Brant Collection, Volume 7: A Concord Symphony - Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60 Orchestrated by Henry Brant. 2007. Innova: 414.

Henry Brant: arrangement
Charles Ives: composition
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies: conductor

Wow! If there is any work than can truly be regarded as "sacred" the Charles Ives Concord Sonata could be that work. Hearing James Tenney performing that thorny, sprawling piano work from memory is one of the most profound experiences of my own music education. It seems fitting that Tenney's former teacher, Henry Brant, would take it upon himself to transcribe that juggernaut for orchestra. Hearing the density of this music smartly laid out along the expanded instrumental pallet coaxes a new, solidly Ives-esque orchestral experience into existence. It is stunning in its scope and incredibly beautiful. I could even pick out the optional flute part in the "Thoreau" movement that is part of the original work. This is a deeply rewarding piece of music cast in a new light and this recording delivers the experience flawlessly.

Johnny Cash: Love, God, Murder. 2000. Sony Music Entertainment: C3K 63809.

Triple CD compilation produced by Johnny Cash, Steve Berkowitz and Al Quaglieri.

The voice of Johnny Cash had a rare quality that pulled poetry from unlikely materials. There's the shock of recognition of the truth of human frailty so accurately and sympathetically expressed. There is the humble, personal expressions of faith that stand in sharp contrast to the intolerance and self-righteousness associated with the Bible belt. And there is the uncanny ability to give voice and sympathy to the downtrodden. All of this holds strong gravity and appreciation for ears willing to chart a wide course to include an unusual genre for this space. But that is the reach and transcendent quality of Johnny Cash's legacy. And with a compilation of tracks hand-selected over a long career, it's a pleasure to hear things that fall outside the "hits." Here the focus is clearly on what Cash had to say and it's a strong argument for why this troubadour will endure.

Giacinto Scelsi: 5 String Quartets/String Trio/Khoom. 2002. WDR/Montaigne: MO 782 156.

The Arditti String Quartet:
Irvine Arditti: violin
Avid Alberman: violin
Levine Andrade: viola
Rohan De Saram: cello

Michiko Hirayama: voice
Maurizio Ben Omar: percussion
Frank Lloyd: horn
Aldo Brizzi: conductor

String Quartet No. 1 (1944)
String Trio (1958)
String Quartet No. 2 (1961)
Khoom (1962)
String Quartet No. 3 (1963)
String Quartet No. 4 (1964)
String Quartet No. 5 (1974/1985)

Somewhere between String Quartet No. 1 in 1944 and the String Trio of 1958 something affected Giacinto Scelsi's sensibilities. In that first quartet we hear an accomplished, expressionist minded composer. From the String Trio onward the distinct and individual voice of Scelsi take form as he turned increasingly inward. The impressive harmonic forms and constructions of that earlier work give way to an obsessive focus on single tones. String Quartet No. 3 becomes a prolonged study in unresolved cadences. String Quartet No. 5 is a brief snapshot from a mind deep in meditation. The transformation that becomes audible through this cycle - and Khoom is a brilliant addition to this cycle - is a compelling narrative of an artist reclaiming his own soul and spiritual sensibility in the wake of personal and creative crisis. In many ways it is a narrative that mirrors the 20th century experience.

HurdAudio Rotation: Tenor, Alto and Latin Prayers

Ellery Eskelin: Vanishing Point. 2001. Hat Hut Records: hatOLOGY 577.

Ellery Eskelin: tenor saxophone
Mat Maneri: viola
Erik Friedlander: cello
Mark Dresser: bass
Matt Moran: vibraphone

Ah, the sweet sounds of Eskelin's tenor with strings. But this isn't the saccharine, faceless wash of backing strings over sinewy show tune melodies any more than Matt Moran's vibraphone is a "heavy metal" addition to this sound. This is a meeting of five equals as each spontaneously contributes to the final sound. And putting five great improvisers in a studio together is a winning formula. This one even more so. There's some big ears, big chops and lot of surprising moments on this disc.

Ornette Coleman: Sound Grammar. 2006. Sound Grammar: SG11593.

Ornette Coleman: saxophone, violin, trumpet
Denardo Coleman: drums, percussion
Gregory Cohen: bass
Tony Falanga: bass

We should all sound this good at age 76. Ornette Coleman keeps the harmolodic fires burning with this great quartet. With a melodic sensibility and improvisational genius that has never stopped evolving as Coleman is completely "on" for this live set in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The texture of one arco bass, one pizzicato bass, and the loose-yet-centered drumming of Denardo Coleman is an ideal sonic bed for Ornette's sonic language. Everything he's ever done will always be compared to those breakout Atlantic recordings. One should not be blinded by his brilliant past when drinking in his thrilling recent outings.

Giacinto Scelsi: Natura Renovatur. 2005. ECM: New Series 1963/476 3106.

Francis-Marie Uitti: cello (on all tracks)
Munchener Kammerorchester:
Christoph Poppen: conductor
Muriel Cantoreggi, Max Peter meis, Romuald Kozik, Clara Baek, Michaela Buchholz, Viktor Konjaev, Bernhard Jestl, Mary Mader: violins
Kelvin Hawthorne, Nancy Sullivan, Stefan Berg, Aidan Pendleton: violas
Peter Bachmann, Michael Weiss, Benedikt Jira, Claudia Weiss: cellos
Veronika Papai: double-bass

Ohoi for 16 strings (1966)
Ave Maria for violoncello solo (1970) from: Three Latin Prayers for solo voice
Anagamin for 11 strings (1965)
Ygghur for voiloncello solo (1961) from Trilogy - The three ages of Man
Natura renovatur for 11 strings (1967)
Alleluja for voiloncello solo (1970)

While each work in this collection is an astonishing piece of shimmering beauty - each well recorded and superbly performed - it is the solo pieces played by Francis-Marie Uitti that are the most devastating in this collection. Ygghur for solo cello being the most intense, focused work of them all. Given the unique working relationship formed between Uitti and Scelsi and the depths of Scelsi's creativity and spiritual focus that Uitti plumbs with so much authenticity I can only wish that ECM had had the courage to make this a full length CD of solo cello music. But given a choice between exquisite versus devastatingly exquisite this is a small complaint. The strains of Alleluja from Three Latin Prayers for solo voice that Uitti lovingly unfolds at the close of this listening experience painfully superb.

HurdAudio Rotation: Lizards, Love and Khoom

The Lounge Lizards: Queen of All Ears. 1998. Strange & Beautiful Music: SB 0015.

John Lurie: composer, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, vocals
Michael Blake: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Steven Bernstein: trumpet
David Tronzo: slide guitar
Evan Lurie: piano, organ
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Erik Sanko: bass
Ben Perowsky: percussion
Calvin Weston: drums

With an irresistible layering of parts played by musicians from the New York "downtown" scene, this is one disc for scratching that long-standing itch for the old Knitting Factory sound that has since dissipated. It's the arrangements that stand out on this recording as the coloring, composition, attention to groove and humor shifts one's focus away from the individual contributions and toward the collective sound of the band. The "Queen" tracks mine a particularly alluring texture.

Johnny Cash: Love God Murder. 2000. Sony Music Entertainment Inc.: C3K 63809.

3-disc compilation produced by Johnny Cash.

What can anyone say about Johnny Cash that would do justice to his legendary voice and persona? Sixteen songs about love that never sink toward the sentimental. Sixteen songs about God that never sink toward evangelizing piety. And sixteen songs about the flaws that undo lives that never turns a blind eye to humanity and compassion. When 99% of all songs fail for reasons of bad poetry, bad arranging or bad motivation it's hard to ignore someone who so rarely missed the mark.

Giacinto Scelsi: 5 String Quartets/String Trio/Khoom. 2002. WDR/Salabert: MO 782156.

String Quartet no. 1 (1944) - performed by the Arditti String Quartet
Irvine Arditti: violin
Avid Alberman: violin
Levine Andrade: viola
Rohan de Saram: cello

String Trio (1958)
Irvine Arditti: violin
Levine Andrade: viola
Rohan de Saram: cello

String Quartet no. 2 (1961) - performed by the Arditti String Quartet

Khoom for soprano and 6 players (1962) - conducted by Aldo Brizzi
Michiko Hirayama: soprano
Frank Lloyd: horn
Maurizio Ben Omar: percussion
Arditti String Quartet

String Quartet no. 3 (1963) - performed by the Arditti String Quartet

String Quartet no. 4 (1964) - performed by the Arditti String Quartet

String Quartet no. 5 (1974/1985) - performed by the Arditti String Quartet

I am struck by the continuity of "voice" between Khoom and String Quartet no. 3. It's as if the wordless lament issued from lungs and larynx of soprano Michiko Hirayama transforms into an eerily similar gesture on the violin.

Sequenced in chronological order, one can hear Scelsi's consistency over this span of forty years even as his stylistic approach takes a dramatic turn toward an intense, meditative focus on exquisitely detailed singularity. One can hear the intuitively composed "modern" work of String Quartet No. 1 as the doorway through which an elaborate universe was discovered as the individuality of Scelsi's sound coalesced with astonishing aesthetic individuality. The consistency between 1944 and 1985 stems from the intuition that Scelsi drew upon with increasing trust over the years. The inclusion of String Trio and Khoom adds incredible texture to this listening experience that helps to augment the story of Scelsi's creative development conveyed by his string quartets.

HurdAudio Rotation: Blood, Scelsi and Eroica

James Blood Ulmer: Birthright. 2005. Hyena Records: TMF 9335.

James Blood Ulmer: vocals, guitar, flute

Ulmer brings his voice and his guitar while Vernon Reid records this deeply soulful, undiluted blues experience. There's plenty of jagged, rough edges in this sound and the world-weary tone makes for some uncompromising expression. Ulmer's blues persona speaks of hard fought truths, observations of imperfections and righteous words from one who knows the devil. The very sound seems to melt into a haze of emotional turmoil.

Giacinto Scelsi: 5 String Quartets/String Trio/Khoom. 1988. WDR/Salabert: MO-782156.

Giacinto Scelsi: composer
performances by:

Arditti String Quartet:
Irvine Arditti: violin
David Alberman: violin
Levine Andrade: viola
Rohan de Saram: cello

Michiko Hirayama: soprano
Frank Lloyd: horn
Maurizio Ben Omar: percussion
Aldo Brizzi: conductor

Here's another disc from my "essentials" list. Giacinto Scelsi is a composer I feel particularly close to and this collection of chamber music cuts a clear path through his progression as a creative force. The Arditti String Quartet, as usual, does an outstanding job with this cornerstone of 20th century string quartet literature.

Of particular interest in this collection is Scelsi's String Quartet no. 1 from 1944. It was written before he underwent his profound creative transformation that led to the austere sound that he is known for today. And it is fascinating to hear where he was as a composer before developing his unique sonic thumb print. String Quartet no. 1 is a substantial work that barely hints at the creative development in store for the works that follow. It is a non-tonal, contrapuntal work that ultimately transforms into a tonal language in the final moments of this 30-plus minute piece. This transition traces a parallel line of Scelsi's overall creative development from the "modernism" of his contemporaries into the focus on sound that would make him into an icon, and a major influence on my own generation of composers.

String Trio from 1958 is representative of Scelsi's focus on coloring single tones with exquisite detail. Listening to the chronological order of these pieces through string quartets 2 through 5 and Khoom for soprano and six players reveals a blossoming of that sound and meditative sensibility that took place in the 41 years that followed that first string quartet. This is beautiful, essential listening.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (op.55) "Eroica", performed in 1994 by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The International Music Company: 205297-305 (disc 2). Conducted by Guenther Herbig.

There are few warhorses as well worn (and beaten) as the "Eroica." And this performance is recorded with great clarity so one can drink in the totality of each familiar nuance. It's a luxury to hear it in its entirety given the way it is often fragmented and segmented in the numerous chance encounters one has with this work from the worlds of advertising and background music.