Pianist Stephen Clarke
Un Adieu is the first work I ever heard of Giacinto Scelsi back in 1994. This started my deeper fascination with contemporary music, and with Scelsi's music in particular. During this time, I also began my studies with pianist Marianne Schroeder in Basel from 1995-97 - Marianne being a world-class contemporary music performer, and one of the most important interpreters of Scelsi's music.
Schroeder is also a fantastic composer herself and studied composition with Scelsi for a period of time. Scelsi presented the original manuscript of Un Adieu to Marianne Schroeder in 1988, asking her to perform the world premiere of the piece at his funeral, which she did. He also asked that she only perform the piece infrequently, only on special occasions. I've played it only a few times in memorial concerts, keeping with these wishes. The piece is still unpublished.
