Orchestral Sessions: Works for orchestra by Giacinto Scelsi & Avi Caspi

The opening concert of the second Orchestral Sessions season treats the orchestra as a living body of intensely exposed physical sound. Performed in total darkness, the programme unfolds as a continuous transformation of energy and scale. At the centre of this night stands Giacinto Scelsi (8 January 1905 - 8 August 1988), whose engagement with poetry, visual art, eastern mysticism, Yoga, and the unconscious shaped a musical practice of radical experimentation, improvisation, and a search for the unconditioned state he approached as a zen void. In Halle am Berghain’s stripped, resonant architecture, his works are heard as a radical state of vibration and tension. From the solitude of the trumpet to the density of the brass, and finally to the suspended radiance of the full orchestra the program draws the listener beyond passive observation into a space where sound, architecture, and perception are merged.

The programme opens with Quattro Pezzi (Four pieces for trumpet solo), performed by Rike Huy. From there, the musical body expands outward: from solo trumpet to brass ensemble to violin and orchestra. from one body to many bodies, and finally to one body again.

I presagi belongs to a group of works shaped by Scelsi’s interest in the collapse of Mayan civilization. He developed the belief that Mayan cities were not simply deserted, but consciously abandoned for spiritual or religious reasons. Unlike many of Scelsi’s more enigmatic titles, I presagi is plain in its meaning: The Omens. Across its three movements, the piece evokes, entirely through instrumental means, a world of premonition, unease, and cultural disappearance.

Scored for orchestra and solo violin, Anahit, performed here with Grégoire Simon as soloist, neither embraces the traditional concerto form nor rejects it; instead, it penetrates an ambiguous space between narrative progression and abstraction. Bearing the subtitle “Lyric poem dedicated to Venus”, the work offers a glimpse into Scelsi’s intense awakening to the vast inner potency of sound, his discovery of an overwhelming sense of eternity within a single tone. Against the shimmering, unstable sonority of the ensemble, the glistening incandescence of the violin gives contour to what would otherwise remain intangible: a radiant presence, a feminine principle released from containment into total freedom of movement.

The evening will also include a new work by Avi Caspi, “Tacet Mare”, presented here as a world premiere.

Ticket availability is limited!

Program:

Giacinto Scelsi: Quattro pezzi for trumpet solo
I presagi
Anahit - a “Lyric Poem Dedicated to Venus”
Avi Caspi: Tacet Mare (world premiere)