Album Review
Luciano Berio “Sinfonia” [Columbia]
cujo 8/20/2012 A Library
Quite possibly _the_ desert island Berio album. All the forces from the 1968 premiere were quickly pressed into the studio: Berio conducting, NY Phil playing, (eight of the) Swingle Singers singing. Berio would later add a 5th movement (and the Swingle Singers would take another stab at recording the augmented work in 1992 under Boulez), which is also why you’ll probably never see this recording reissued.
The first movement features text by your favorite structuralist Levi-Strauss.
The second movement passes MLK’s name around quietly.
The third movement is the true whopper. In the composer’s own notes, it’s not so much composed as it is assembled around fragments of Mahler’s fearsome 2nd symphony, with dozens of other references plain and obscure thrown in (which hordes of musicology postdocs are still tackling as we listen). If you know Mahler’s 2nd at all, it’s hard to listen to this just once.
Three Word Review: More Cow Berio!
-Cujo, KFJC, Aug 2012
you heard it 16 times on kfjc! most recently:
- 474 days ago, Cousin Mary played Section II
- 1497 days ago, Max Level played Section III
- 1522 days ago, John Goldfarb played Section III
- 2663 days ago, R Duck played Section I
- 3593 days ago, abacus finch played Section III
12345 S. El Monte Road Los Altos Hills, California 94022
Public Inspection File
add comment