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| 1. Sinfonia For eight Voices And Orchestra: I - |
| 2. Sinfonia For eight Voices And Orchestra: II - O King |
| 3. Sinfonia For eight Voices And Orchestra: III - In ruhig fliessender Bewegung |
| 4. Sinfonia For eight Voices And Orchestra: IV - |
| 5. Sinfonia For eight Voices And Orchestra: V - |
| 6. Eindruke |
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Berio's masterpiece and another fine work, but get the budget reissue, and supplement it with Eotvos,
This review is from: Berio: Sinfonia / Eindrucke (Audio CD)
This disc of two Luciano Berio works in performance by the Orchestre National de France and Pierre Boulez was originally released on Erato in 1986. Thankfully, Warner Classics reissued it at budget price in 2001 in their "Apex" line, a bargain which the contemporary music afficionado should seek out. As you shall see, I do not think this disc has the best performance of a key Berio work, but nonetheless it has much to recommend itself.
"Sinfonia" for eight voices and orchestra (1968-69) is one of Luciano Berio's greatest works, vast in its proportions and in the musical traditions it incorporates. The eight voices are meant to be jazz singers, and Berio wrote the piece for the Swingle Singers, who appear here in a later lineup. The first two movements are quiet and mysterious. In the first, the singers gently intone selections from Levi-Strauss' retellings of Brazilian myths, made so vague that only the phonetic properties matter. In the second movement "O King", an orchestration of an earlier independent work, the singers slowly build up to the name "Martin Luther King", who had been murdered the year before. The third movement of "Sinfonia", the extroverted "In ruhig fliessender Bewegung", is the most famous. The skeleton of the work is the second movement from Mahler's "Resurrection" symphony, a little cut-up and reordered. Over this, Berio has a tenor reciting text taken mainly from Samuel Beckett's "The Unnamable" and Berio's own journalistic writings, and the orchestra responds with quotations from fifteen composers. For example, when the narrator uses the term "the lowing cattle, the rush of the stream", we hear part of Beethoven's "Pastorale" symphony, while a singer's cry "This is nothing but an academic exercise" is ironically accompanied by music by Hindemith. Every listener has his own favourite part of this movement, mine is when the narrator says "I have a present for you" and the orchestra responds with that big tutti chord that opens Boulez' "Don" (which is to say "Gift"). The fourth and fifth movements return to a subdued tone. The fourth brings back Levi-Strauss references and is rather brief. But for all my initial passion about the third movement, I find it is the fifth which is the most intriguing and satisfying. Originally "Sinfonia" was written in four movements, but after the first performance, Berio was unhappy that these four movements were not reconciled to each other. In the fifth movement he subsequently wrote, therefore, we hear references in the form of quotation and harmonic development to the original four movements, a savage mix of voices, confused percussion, and threatening trombones a la Per Norgard's fifth symphony. A splendid end to a massive work. For a long time, this was *the* recording of the "Sinfonia" to have. However, I must say I find it superseded by that on Deutsche Grammophon in the "20/21" series, where Peter Eotvos leads the Goteborgs Symfoniker. In the third movement, Eotvos keeps it going at a very nice clip, creating a dizzying parade of images. Boulez, on the other hand, keeps things quite slow; if one has already heard the Eotvos recording, terms like "molasses" come to mind. Also, Ward Swingle's narration, while it might have worked for Berio in forty years ago, now makes this sound like a dated '60s happening, and the Eotvos performance Nonetheless, Boulez's handling of the other four movements is quite fine, and I certainly invite Berio fans to get this. The liner notes for "Sinfonia" consist only of Luciano Berio's own programme note, which covers all the basics. However, those enraptured by the piece would do well to seek out David Osmond-Smith's PLAYING ON WORDS: A Guide to Luciano Berio's 'Sinfonia' (University of Chicago, 1987) ISBN 0947854002. Even if the performance of "Sinfonia" is not my favourite, the following "Eindrucke" for orchestra (1973-74) is very entertaining. Where does one go after one has reconciled himself to the whole classical tradition, giving birth to the first postmodern symphony? Evidentally back to modernism, but of a fresh new type. "Eindrucke" is a quintessential 1970s Berio piece, interested in organically generating material from strict processes, while still remaining dramatic and easily accessible.. I should add that this is an IRCAM recording, meaning that these two works appear in crystal-clear sound. Bottom line: get the Eotvos recording and this, and enjoy a thrilling tour de force of the 20th-century music.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic,
By
This review is from: Luciano Berio: Sinfonia; Eindrücke (Audio CD)
Luciano Berio was commissioned to write a work for the New York Philharmonic's 150th anniversary. What resulted was the Sinfonia, a masterpiece of the twentieth century musical movement. This work combines many of the Italian composers fascinations - from Mahler to Martin Luther King - and sympathizes them. The result is fascinating, stimulating, and thoroughly enjoyable. Boulez's interpretation is really top-notch. He leads the orchestra with great power, gusto, and energy. This vision is evident, especially in the third moment of the piece. Berio here takes the Scherzo from Mahler's second symphony and "pastes" in other famous musical phrases from Debussy, Ravel, Beethoven, Schoenberg and others as well as adding voices, which sustain a dialog throughout the entire movement. Boulez's intellectual approach to music is appreciated here - the result is a crisp, definitive reading of this powerful twentieth century masterpiece.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Boulez vs. Bernstein Redux,
This review is from: Luciano Berio: Sinfonia; Eindrücke (Audio CD)
While I do agree that the Bernstein recording of Berio's masterwork is the better performance of the two, Boulez brings a nouance to his conducting that I think can only come from the fact that the piece had aged somewhat by the time he was conducting it. The piece might be viewed as less topical by that time, but Boulez manages to make it speak to a new audience with the same force that it had the first time it was performed. I personally feel that it is just as meaningful now as ever, regardless of who performs it, but Boulez definitely makes it feel avant garde, even after so much time has passed.
Leaving all the qualitative discussion aside, this recording is available while Bernstein's is not (unless you happen to be lucky enough to know someone with the LP), and this recording includes the additional fifth movement while Bernstein's does not. I agree that Bernstein's should be made available no matter what one might think about its quality, but this recording is at least equally deserving of a listen. I do not agree with the previous reviewer that the sound quality is lacking, so even if one loves the other recording, one should be able to buy this one as well without worrying about getting a badly-produced recording.
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