Topic: Sylvano Bussotti

[Ugh!]

A composer, film-maker, actor and artist who brings in a prostitute to give his keynote speech deserves some attention. What are your views on Bussotti?

[snyprrr]

Any one want to get rid of a DG Rara Requiem?

[petrarch]

A composer, film-maker, actor and artist who brings in a prostitute to give his keynote speech deserves some attention. What are your views on Bussotti?

His scores are great to look at. His music is worth listening (although I generally don't like vocal music and music theatre, Bussotti's included), but there are other obscure italians that are a lot more interesting, e.g. Franco Evangelisti.

[k-k-k-kenny]

.... great to look at - indeed. But does he provide an instruction manual or some such to tell the unfortunate performer what might be done with them? Even a few little hints might help.

[MDL]

I had the Rara Requiem, Bergkristall and the Lorenzaccio Symphony  on vinyl and replaced them with the twofer CD reissue. I was surprised to find out that the LP release of Rara was cut; the missing sections were restored for the CD release.

Love Rara. The first half of the Lorenzaccio Symphony is better than the second IMO. I like Bergkristall more now than I did when I was a teenager. I still find it a bit ramshackle and indulgent. I might give it another go tonight.

Has anybody heard this?




Or the new recording of Rara?

[snyprrr]

I had the Rara Requiem, Bergkristall and the Lorenzaccio Symphony  on vinyl and replaced them with the twofer CD reissue. I was surprised to find out that the LP release of Rara was cut; the missing sections were restored for the CD release.

Love Rara. The first half of the Lorenzaccio Symphony is better than the second IMO. I like Bergkristall more now than I did when I was a teenager. I still find it a bit ramshackle and indulgent. I might give it another go tonight.

Has anybody heard this?




Or the new recording of Rara?

I'm still trying to get a cheap copy of that DG. Also, there was a $10 copy of the Piano Music by Martin Joste (Mode) that soooomeone stole from me. Not the easiest one to get into. All I have is the Arditti SQ, and that piece doesn't reveal anything particular to me.

[MDL]

A used copy of the DG CD of Rara/Bergkristall/Lorenzaccio is available on Amazon... for £36.65! Ouch!

[MDL]

I've just finished listening to Bergkristall. Each time I hear it, the more I like it. Boy, did I underestimate this work in my youth. Perhaps I found it too pretty, too Bergian (and therefore too old-fashioned), compared to the Stockhausen, Penderecki and Ligeti I was immersed in at the time.

Some of the earlier sections may occasionally lack strong ideas and indulge in restless thrashing about to create their effects, but as the piece progresses, the argument falls into sharper focus. And the spooky, glittering march that forms the coda is beautiful.

Thanks for reminding me about one of the composers who sometimes ends up buried and neglected in my CD stack.

[Brewski]

Thanks for reminding me about one of the composers who sometimes ends up buried and neglected in my CD stack.

And thank YOU for reminding me that I don't recall ever hearing any of Bussotti's music!    As usual, "have to fix that."  Bergkristall sounds like it might be right up my alley.

--Bruce

[Scarpia]

A composer, film-maker, actor and artist who brings in a prostitute to give his keynote speech deserves some attention. What are your views on Bussotti?

If that is his claim to our attention, I'd say his obscurity is well deserved.   

[MDL]

And thank YOU for reminding me that I don't recall ever hearing any of Bussotti's music!    As usual, "have to fix that."  Bergkristall sounds like it might be right up my alley.

--Bruce

If you can track down the DG recording, the Rara Requiem is quite extraordinary. A few decades ago (Christ, that makes me feel old), a UK critic compared it favourably to Berio's far more famous Laborintus II, which should give you a vague idea of the sound world Rara inhabits.



I haven't heard the Col Legno version of Rara and I'm nervous about recommending a modern masterpiece based on a recording I don't know. It could be wonderful. I'm reasonably sure it will be, given Col Legno's excellent reputation. But you never know.


Anyway, I've just been digging about on YouTube and guess what! It looks like somebody has uploaded the whole DG Rara. I haven't had time to do anything but dip into it, but it sounds like the DG and at this point in time, I can only assume that it's complete.

YouTube; gotta love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZgef4NPfs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZgef4NPfs&feature=related

[Scarpia]

If you can track down the DG recording, the Rara Requiem is quite extraordinary. A few decades ago (Christ, that makes me feel old), a UK critic compared it favourably to Berio's far more famous Laborintus II, which should give you a vague idea of the sound world Rara inhabits.



I haven't heard the Col Legno version of Rara and I'm nervous about recommending a modern masterpiece based on a recording I don't know. It could be wonderful. I'm reasonably sure it will be, given Col Legno's excellent reputation. But you never know.


Anyway, I've just been digging about on YouTube and guess what! It looks like somebody has uploaded the whole DG Rara. I haven't had time to do anything but dip into it, but it sounds like the DG and at this point in time, I can only assume that it's complete.

YouTube; gotta love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZgef4NPfs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZgef4NPfs&feature=related

Now I know why he needs to bring Prostitutes along to get attention.   

[some guy]

Scarpia, surely you have something better to do. I'm almost positive.

Anyway, thanks to all those who've resurrected this thread, which I missed first time around. I've also missed Bussotti. Can't hit everything. First time around, anyway. But I know I should have some. I'll buy the Col legno soonish and give that a spin.

[MDL]

Now I know why he needs to bring Prostitutes along to get attention.   

Fair enough! Although I do hope you put more effort into listening to Bussotti than you put into your post. 

[snyprrr]

Fair enough! Although I do hope you put more effort into listening to Bussotti than you put into your post. 

If we're talking Italian Avant Garde, the prostitutes in question will invariably be male. ciccolina!!!!

[k-k-k-kenny]

All I have is a couple of versions of Musica Per Amici, which is interesting but which I don't for a moment pretend to understand. I guess like Messiaen, Takemitsu and others, you just have to let it come to you and see what happens.

[snyprrr]

Any one want to get rid of a DG Rara Requiem?

Finally picked this up. It's just another classic DG that everyone should have already,... what's the point?

Bussotti orchestrates with guitar very nicely, and has a way of ratcheting up the chaos with brass and percussion. Very very colorful,... frisson.


BUSSOTTI ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS:

1) Rara Requiem/ Bergkristall/ Lorenzzaccio(?) Symphony (DG)

This is the Most Essential Bussotti, always has been. Don't ask, just get it.

1.5) Il Catalogo del Questo(?) (Tamayo;Timpani)

I haven't heard this yet, but Tamayo is on a roll, and this 2CD set may well be the flip side to the DG set. There just isn't a lot of Orchestral Bussotti on the market, so, somebody, snap it up (you know how some of these Timpani discs go OOP!). Vocals.

2) Piano Music (Joste;Mode)

Bussotti is quite the formidable Piano Master, and this disc delivers quite a nice dollop of AV Complexity. A sleeper disc, and 2nd on the List.

3) Selon Sade/ Le Bal Masque (Ricordi)
    Nymphea (Ricordi)

4) 'Gramsci' Quartet (Arditti;Montaigne) busy and noisy

5) Nascosto (Ceccanti;Arts) short chamber work, busy and noisy

There is a freshness to Bussotti that sounds like a bacchanal.

Stradivarius has quite a few Bussotti disc, none of which has cried out to me. There are, what?, two discs devoted only to harp (with some narration on one). Some piano and violin, some of this and that, but I haven't seen anything to replace

6) harp music ('2oth Century Harp;Arts)

There's just a bit of Bussotti here, but I'll stick with this great disc rather than go for the Strads.

I feel there's something I'm missing (Ex Novo Ensemble?), but, either way, the Bussotti Discography isn't huge, so, if you're inclined, what's another flaming Italian?

[snyprrr]

i am like Bussotti in that I believe my Posts are like sperm seeds that I leave here and there to watch them grow or die

[ritter]

Bump...

Not really musical news, but the Cineteca di Bologna will publish at the end of this month a book that includes a DVD with Sylvano Bussotti's 1960s film Rara . It's not the Rara Requiem or any of the other musical works with that anagram in their title, but a 70' silent film set in Rome that seems to be a sort of avant-garde reply to La dolce vita. In the SF Museum of Modern Art's webpage, we are told that the film "gathers 'filmed portraits' of the Italian avant-garde, including the circle around Pier Paolo Pasolini, the expats of Julian Beck's Living Theater, and Bussotti's muse Cathy Berberian".

In 2007, Bussotti composed music to accompany the film, which I do not know whether is used in this edition.

Here is what I understand is a still from the film:


Must be interesting, and may provide further insights into this protean, sometimes almost chaotic, but IMHO fascinating artist.

This is the amazon.it link.

[ritter]

There now is a cover for that Bussotti film:



Very bussottian, I daresay.

I've just ordered it...