Sabine Liebner - Giacinto Scelsi: Suite 8 & 11 per pianoforte

Giacinto Scelsi (1905�1988) is one of the most unusual composers of the twentieth century, a unique figure whose importance was only fully recognized and celebrated after his death. During his lifetime, he was often dismissed, especially in Italy, as a pretentious dilettante because he did not notate his music himself. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he recorded his improvisations at the piano and had them transcribed by others. In this way, in the course of only a few years hundreds of piano pieces appeared, many of which Scelsi then collected into suites. He began his series of suites with the number 8, since the number 8 had for him a mystic significance. The �Suite No. 8� is subtitled �Bot-ba�, which means �Tibetan�. In fact, the suite has nothing to do with actual Tibetan ritual music, but is an expression of Scelsi�s deep affinity for Eastern philosophy. His final �Suite No. 11� is a special case and was put together quite late in Scelsi�s life, at least in its final version. The interpretation by internationally acclaimed pianist Sabine Liebner is therefore the first authentic recording of the work with its original sequence of movements. Liebner�s meticulously researched 2015 recordings of Scelsi�s Suite No. 9 and Suite No. 10 (WER 67942) have been celebrated by critics.