28 April 2007

Scelsi: Tre canti poplari

Tre canti popolari (1958): Three movments for quartet of "natural" voices (remember N'Shima of Xenakis - more impossible music for untrained singers) this is recorded on an old Sub Rosa disc; the liner notes say it was recorded down a minor third as the original pitch proved impractical.Of the three movements the last is the most impressive - throughout it is divided into two duos - alto/bass, tenor/soprano, this is exploited to the best in the third movement. Anyway, the third features a repetition of an ascending tetrachord that sounds almost Indonesian, The voices sing vocables and fricatives. Not as good as the Canti Sacri.

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