Salvatore Sciarrino: Infinito nero; Le voci sottovetro

On this CD:

1. Le voci sottovetro: Gagliarda del Principe di Venosa after Carlo Gesualdo
Composed by Salvatore Sciarrino
Performed by Recherche Ensemble, Sonia Turchetta

2. Le voci sottovetro: Tu m'uccidi, o crudele after Carlo, Gesualdo
Composed by Salvatore Sciarrino
Performed by Recherche Ensemble, Sonia Turchetta

3. Le voci sottovetro: Canzon francese del Principe after Carlo Gesualdo
Composed by Salvatore Sciarrino
Performed by Recherche Ensemble, Sonia Turchetta

4. Le voci sottovetro: Moro, Lasso after Carlo Gesualdo
Composed by Salvatore Sciarrino
Performed by Recherche Ensemble, Sonia Turchetta

5. Infinito nero
Composed by Salvatore Sciarrino
Performed by Recherche Ensemble, Sonia Turchetta

Salvatore Sciarrino: Infinito nero; Le voci sottovetro, Music, Salvatore Sciarrino, Ensemble Recherche, Sonia Turchetta, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music

Average customer rating:

Good, but less impressed by "Infinito nero"

If you buy one CD this month...

Salvatore Sciarrino: Infinito nero; Le voci sottovetro

Manufacturer: Kairos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00002DDUD
Release Date: 2000-05-23

Customer Reviews:

Good, but less impressed by "Infinito nero".......2000-10-19

I've listened to most of Sciarrino's recordings, except the complete piano music with Damerini and the recent "Aspern Suite". This is the most accessible CD I've heard, and Ensemble Recherche are outstanding, but I wasn't overly impressed by "Infinito nero." The vocal part is excellent, but the music seems rather formulaic by recent Sciarrino standards. The silences, trademark string harmonics, and heartbeat sounds are employed more creatively, for instance, in the "Exploration of white" CD on Stradivarius (no vocals on that disc, however). The Gesualdo transcriptions are interesting, but I don't know enough about Gesualdo to comment on Sciarrino's "value added." The spoken passages (of text by Tasso) are atmospheric and consistent with the themes explored by "Infinito nero," but non-speakers of Italian may not get much out of them.

If you buy one CD this month..........2000-07-26

it probably won't be this one, but it should be.

I had heard a few pieces by Sciarrino before buying this CD and to tell the truth, I wasn't that impressed. They always started off great then became way too long and I just lost interest. However, a lot of people seemed to think he was great so when I noticed that Ensemble Recherche was doing a CD of his music I decided to pick it up. (Ensemble Recherche being one of the best new music groups around. They're phenomenal and they haven't recorded a bad CD)

This CD contains modern transcriptions of the music of Carlo Gesualdo, a very umm.. "strange" (to put it lightly) 17th century composer. In Sciarrino's transcriptions he addresses a lot of issues that often get ignored. Can we still learn something new from music so old? These transcritions serve as a kind of "updating" of Gesualdo's music, rather than just a way to hear existing music on different instruments (like playing a Beethoven string quartet with 4 saxophones because you happen to have 4 saxes handy and you love Beethoven).

Anyway, the highlight of this is, without a doubt, Sciarrino's own composition, "Infinito nero" (Infinite black). I'm still awestruck with this piece, having only heard it a few times yet. It seems like such a total departure from the other Sciarrino pieces I heard before. This piece is slow & spacious with extremely short bursts of quick speaking as opposed to the virtuosic and seemingly indulgent piano & violin pieces I heard before.

"Infinito nero" is a beautiful & powerful work.

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