Salvatore Sciarrino and the Art of Transcription

Sciarrino has a vested interest in music from earlier times. For him, transcription is an art akin to translation and he infuses much of his own music with references to earlier masters; both of these discs are prime examples of that. Pagine & Canzoniere are transcriptions for Saxophone Quartet of music by Gesualdo, Bach, Scarlatti, anonymous Ars Nova pieces, Gershwin, and even Cole Porter. The main offer of the Winter & Winter disc Storie di altre storie juxtaposes his eerie transcriptions of Machaut, Scarlatti, and Mozart with his own compositional language.

Today the transcription has become, or is once again, a noble enterprise. Composers and musicians no longer disdain transcription, and audiences react to them with enthusiasm. For Salvatore Sciarrino, however, transcriptions and compositions occupy an equally important place. Both are elaborations based on existent or non-existent material; both are destined to be played by musicians, whether grouped in a 'traditional' way or not. Sciarrino has been involved with the two activities for thirty years. A parameter that influenced Sciarrino in choosing pieces for 'Pagine' was the fact that four instruments of the same family and of complementary pitches were involved. The Saxophone Quartet is something like the string quartet, although it does not make use of the highest register. Sound plays a considerable role in Sciarrino's works, and is never the result of former speculation. The 'Canzionere' was written after 'Pagine' and is like an extension of the latter. Sciarrino has never before transcribed Scarlatti Sonatas, unlike the other works of the other composers assembled in 'Pagine'. Although Scarlatti's music has profited from the early music movement over the past few decades, it is still relatively unknown to mainstream musicians.

-Arkivmusic.com

1) Madrigal - "Itene Miel Sospiri" (Carlo Gesualdo)
2) Madrigale - "Tu M'uccidi, O Crudel" (Carlo Gesualdo)
3) Fughetta Sur "Dies Sind Die Heil'gen Zehn Gebot (J.S. Bach)
4) Kyrie "Gott Vater Ewigkeit" (J.S. Bach)
5) Sonate En La Mineur L.233/K.532 Allegro (Domenico Scarlatti)
6) Sonate En Mi Majeur L.257/K.206 Andante (Domenico Scarlatti)
7) Adagio Adagio De La Grande Partita KV 361 (W. A. Mozart)
8) I've Got You Under My Skin (Cole Porter)
9) "O Virgo Spendens" (Chasses Anonymes De l'Ars Nova)
10) "Tres Dous Complains" (Chasses Anonymes De l'Ars Nova)
11) Who Cares? (George Gershwin)
12) Sonate En Ré Mineur L.215/K.120 Allegressimo (Domenico Scarlatti)
13) Sonate En La Majeur L.238/K.208 Adagio E Cantabile (Domenico Scarlatti)
14) Sonate En Fa Majeur L.230/K.350 Allegro (Domenico Scarlatti)
15) Sonate En La Mineur L.222/K.404 Andante (Domenico Scarlatti)
16) Sonate En La Majeur L.428/K.209 Allegro (Domenico Scarlatti)
17) Sonate En Do Majeur L.439/K.255 Allegro (Domenico Scarlatti)
18) Sonate En Ré Majeur L.448/K.359 Allegrissimo (Domenico Scarlatti)
19) Sonate En Sol Majeur L.445/K.153 Vivo (Domenico Scarlatti)

Sciarrino's fondness for taking music from previous eras and placing it in unexpected contexts dominates Winter and Winter's single-disc set, too. In 1981's Efebo con Radio, that context is an autobiographical one, as Sciarrino recalls a childhood spent listening to an old valve radio through hazes of static. Storie di Altre Storie (2004) includes references ranging from Machaut to Mozart, with a particularly focus on Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas, to create a tangle of historical trajectories.

-Andrew Clements, The Guardian

1) Efebo Con Radio (1981)
2) Il Giornale Della Necropoli (1999-2000)
3) Autoritratto Nella Notte (1982)
4) Storie Di Altre Storie (2004) - I. come senza tempo: Mozart - Adagio for glass harmonica KV (356), Machaut - Rose, Scarlatti Andante cantabile L. 203
5) Storie Di Altre Storie (2004) - II. Domenico Scarlatti Allegro L. 204 (K. 105)
6) Storie Di Altre Storie (2004) - III. Domenico Scarlatti Allegro L. 446 (K. 262)

Track 1: Sonia Turchetta, voice; WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln - Kazushi Ono
Track 2: Teodoro Anzellotti, accordion; WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln - Lucas Vis
Track 3: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln - Kazushi Ono
Tracks 4-6: Teodoro Anzellotti, accordion; WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln - Kazushi Ono