Scelsi: Excursion and Discovery

From the Examiner:

In his remarks introducing the first performance of Giacinto Scelsi‘s “Hymnos” by the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall last night, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, reflecting on the unfavorable mail he had received following previous performances of Scelsi’s music (“Aion” in 1997 and “Konx-Om-Pax” in 2000) invoked metaphor. His response to those who had been unreceptive to Scelsi was ask them to imagine being on a cruise and seeing, in the distance, a previously unknown island, which, when viewed through binoculars, revealed equally unknown flora and fauna. This metaphor of excursion and discovery is certainly apposite where Scelsi is concerned; but it applies just as well to the conclusion of the Mahler Festival ’09, which left the strong impression that Gustav Mahler’s entire life had been one of excursion and discovery.

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