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FULL UAXUCTUM, la légende de la Cité Maya détruite par eux-mêmes (Scelsi) Paris 2018
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Uaxuctum, la légende de la Cité Maya détruite par eux-mêmes pour des raisons religieuses
- Composer: Scelsi Giacinto
- Libretto:
- Venue & Opera Company: Radio France
- Recorded: November 2018
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Tamara Bounazou, Natasha Sollers, Yaxiang Lu, Martin Davout
- Conductor: Aldo Brizzi
- Orchestra: Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France
- Chorus: Choeur de Radio France
- Chorus Master: Roland Hayrabedian
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Radio France
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
This extraordinary piece is in five movements, totaling approximately twenty minutes. In addition to the large chorus, written at an astonishingly difficult technical level, the work is scored for: four vocal soloists (two sopranos, two tenors, electronically amplified), ondes Martenot solo, vibraphone, sistrum, Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, bass tuba, double bass tuba, six double basses, timpani and seven other percussionists (playing on such instruments as the rubbed two-hundred liter can, a large aluminum hemisphere, and a two-meter high sheet of metal). The chorus is written in ten and twelve parts, incorporating all variety of microtonal manipulations, as well as breathing and other guttural and nasal sounds. This piece is certainly Scelsi’s most difficult to perform, and was not premiered until October 12th, 1987 by the Cologne Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra. Uaxuctum is subtitled: “The legend of the Maya city, destroyed by themselves for religious reasons” and corresponds to an actual Maya city in Peten, Guatemala which flourished during the first millennium AD; in addition, the Mexican state of Oaxaca comes from the same ancient meso-American root.
This is an intensely dramatic work, and the most bizarre in Scelsi’s output. It depicts the end of an ancient civilization – residing in Central America, but with mythical roots extending back to Egypt and beyond – it is the last flowering of a mystical and mythological culture which was slowly destroyed by our modern world. In this case, Scelsi says, the Mayans made a conscious decision to end the city themselves. Uaxuctum incorporates harmonic elements throughout, and is extremely difficult to come to terms with.