“Giacinto Scelsi would have been a hundred this year. Given his mystica propensities, it might be better to say that he is a hundred, although he was observed to have died in 1988. Live performances of this composer’s works remain rare; Michael Tilson Thomas, in San Francisco, is the only American conductor who programs them. It is far easier to get to know the music on recordings, by way of the Accord, CPO, Kairos, and Mode labels. Scelsi’s methods were strange, but he had a command of narrative which no ghostwriter could have provided.”