Scelsi, Giacinto (1905 - 1988)

[Richard Barrett]

one requirement that Scelsi asked for in the Fourth Quartet was that one of the strings needed to be tuned up a fourth, which puts even more tremendous pressure on the instrument than usual.

Actually though it doesn't - if you tuned say a C string up to F it would certainly break, so the solution is to take the C string off completely, replace it with a G string, and then tune this down to F. Which would mean that the overall tension would be slightly less than normal.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

All four instruments different scordatura; the 'cello retunes one string (the A string goes up a minor third to middle C, the Viola retunes the two lower strings (C up to D, G down to F), the violins retune three strings each: the Second D up to G; A up to B; E down to D#, and the First G down to F, A up to D, E up to F). So the two strings in the Violin parts requiring retuning up a Fourth should indeed be replaced, as Richard says, with another higher string, both to prevent the string breaking and to ease the tension on the bridge.

This set-up requires that both violinists each have two instruments available for the performance, which may be a faff - but it seems very odd that the FLUX first violinist's should have broken at all in these conditions.

[Mandryka]

I’d always kind of thought that the divertimenti were not very interesting - until today, when I listened to this new CD.

Information, including booklet essay - which looks not totally uninteresting - here

https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0015063kai