Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988)
"Chemin du cœur", pour violon et piano
"Dialogo", pour violoncelle et piano
Sonate pour violon et piano
Trio pour violon, violoncelle et piano

Markus Däunert, violon
Giovanni Gnocchi, violoncelle
Alessandro Stella, piano

The early years of Giacinto Scelsi’s career are not different from any other event surrounding the life of this great composer who always tried to stay away from prying eyes. Not only did he refuse to share pictures of him, but we also have little information about his life and his work to the extent that there is no certain information about the authorship of some works attributed to him, nor about who his teachers were. Much has been said about his talent of self-taught improviser, about his relationship with Giacinto Sallustio (who was he by the way?), but the only thing we know with certainty is the collection of his early scores (either handwritten or published), that is currently property of the Isabella Scelsi Foundation, which the artists of this CD have consulted for their marvelous interpretations. The four compositions of this CD were issued in Rome by Edizioni De Santis shortly before 1950 (many years after they had been composed), with the exception of Chemin du coeur, that had been previously issued by Ricordi. I will therefore try to analyze them attempting to highlight what Scelsi’s compositional interests and aesthetic preferences could be during the 1930s, especially bearing in mind that these works were composed prior to his encounter with the Viennese School, at the end of 1930s. This encounter did not inspire the author to faithfully commit to the dodecaphony, but left significant marks on his musical imagination. We can therefore assume that the compositions were written around 1936-37, years in which we know they were performed....