Berio: Sinfonia; Eindrücke

Luciano Berio (Composer), Pierre Boulez (Conductor), Ward Swingle (Conductor), Swingle Singers (Performer), Orchestre National de France (Orchestra), Regis Pasquier (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Swingle Singers, Regis Pasquier
• Orchestra: Orchestre National de France
• Conductor: Pierre Boulez, Ward Swingle
• Composer: Luciano Berio
• Audio CD (April 28, 1992)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Erato
• ASIN: B000005E60
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #147,471 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Berio's most celebrated opus is what a friend describes as a "kitchen-sink work:" the Italian composer, in a display of exuberance and virtuosity, seems to have synthesized all of his disparate preoccupations and fascinations--Samuel Beckett, Martin Luther King, Mahler, the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss--into an intensely personal orchestral fantasia. The result, which the composer describes as "perhaps my most experimental work," is ultimately joyous. Pierre Boulez conducts. --Joshua Cody

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, April 4, 2004

By	Prescott Cunningham Moore - See all my reviews

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ricardo Chailly and the Concertgebouw, June 21, 2004

By A Customer

If you are a fan of this great piece and haven't heard the (out of print) recording by Ricardo Chailly and the Concertgebouw -- buy it used, now: Polygram Records, #425832. It has all of the clarity and insight of this Boulez performance, but it also has great big dollops of humor, passion, wonder, mystery, etc.; it lets go. It also includes Berio's late orchestral masterpiece, "Formazione", as well as the chamber orchestra version of the "Folksongs" wonderfully sung by Jard Van Nes. The greatest Berio CD -- program, performance -- I know of.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful sound, quality; a perfect recording., February 27, 2001

By A Customer

This is Berio most famous work for orchestra and its complexity and modern style makes it a perfect work for Pierre Boulez to conduct. He gives this complex work light and makes full use of Berio's unique orchestral sounds and allows the singers to shine through the musical fabric. In this recording, the orchestra is beautiful, the singers and narrator are clearly heard, and the tempos are graceful, yet controled. One thing to note about the third movement of the Sinfonia is Berio's references to other famous works. It is fun to listen to the music and mind the hidden, famous fragments of other scores. In the third movement you will hear Mahler's 2nd Symphony, Debussy's La Mer, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, and Strauss Night of the Rose to name a few. It is an amazing work. BUY THIS CD!