GIACINTO SCELSI (1905-1988): Collection, Vol. 8 - Chemin de chœur for Violin and Piano, Dialogo for Cello and Piano, Piano Trio (All First Recordings), Violin Sonata.

Description: The two short pieces listed above, probably from 1930 or earlier will shock Scelsi partisans with their Fauré/early Ravel sound world. The sonata and trio, both substantial works in three movements and probably dating from around 1936-37, are from just a few years later, but already the composer is exploring a more 'advanced' idiom in a highly chromatic language that not infrequently recalls Berg. This is Scelsi's most accomplished period as a 'conventional' composer, and entirely predates the experimental, mystical, microtonal, improvised or conceptual works of the post-war years. Even the two years that separate the works show considerable progress along this path; the sonata is quite late-Romantic in both structure and harmony. The first movement has traces of sonata form and a long, virtuosic cadenza; the slow movement is passionate and lyrical, and the last a vivacious allegro. The trio's first movement is angular and discursive, the three instruments in constant urgent dialogue. The slow movement consists of long lines of melody over varying ostinato-like patterns with an hypnotic effect which may in hindsight be heard as a precursor of things to come, while the finale returns to the style of the first, with rambunctiously playful energy. Markus Däunert (violin), Giovanni Gnocchi (cello), Alessandro Stella (piano).