Sequenza

On this CD:

1. Like a leaf on the river
Composed by Magnar Am
Performed by Magnar Am, Njal Vindenes

2. Varp for guitar
Composed by Nils Henrik Asheim
Performed by Njal Vindenes

3. Guitar Sonata, Op. 47
Composed by Alberto Ginastera
Performed by Njal Vindenes

4. Sequenza XI, for guitar
Composed by Luciano Berio
Performed by Njal Vindenes

5. Nocturnal after John Dowland, for guitar, Op. 70
Composed by Benjamin Britten
Performed by Njal Vindenes

Tracks:

Girono Di Notte
Astratto 3
Corsa Sui Tetti
Ric Happenning
Memento Riereazione Diverdita
Studio Di Colore
Forza G
Placcaggio
Seuita
Postludio Alla Terza Moglia
L'uccello Dalle Piume
II Buio
Raprimento In Campo Aperto
De Fotografie
Bambola
Minna Nanna Per adulteri
Astrazione

Tracks:

Trafelato
Sensi
Gil Intoccabili
Fondante Paure
L'Attento - Version 1
Fumerie' d'Opium
1970
Esplicitamente Sospeso
Squenz 10
Paura e Aggrellione
Folle Folle
Un Uomo Da Rispettare

Amazon.com

Finally, the listening public is treated to a Morricone compilation that focuses on his more daring, outre, and lesser known score music. Nothing against his better-known spaghetti western soundtrack work; there is a reason after all that stuff is so well known, because it's fantastic and wholly original. But did you know the dude scored more films than any other composer (over 500), that his discography is twice that of Sun Ra, that he made amazing psychedelia and crazy funk and subtle experimental music? Assembled by the brilliant musician/ musical curator Alan Bishop for Mike Patton's Ipecac label with liner notes by John Zorn, the aptly titled Crime and Dissonance is culled from extremely rare releases from the early `70s. It's strange stuff, but very enjoyable and easily among the finest and most necessary reissues of the entire year. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews:

What's Essential About This?.......2007-04-21

A sticker on the jewel case proclaims Crime and Dissonance "an absolutely essential Morriconography". A couple of listens had me wondering what is so essential about this? Unfortunately, essential is an abused term when it comes to describing music. This might be said to be essential if you are a Morricone completeist, but when you compare the quality of the music here with that of some of his other compositions, you'll find that Crime and Dissonance is rather easily dispensible.
Is the music here unusual? Quite. But the question must be asked why anyone would sit around and just listen to it. This stuff belongs in a movie. Unlike many other Morricone compositions, the pieces here do not fit with any kind of mood you might have except that generated while you are watching a film.
I know a lot of folks with broad musical tastes, but I don't know of anyone who would listen to this CD just for pleasure or even for background music unless one was operating a commercial haunted house or having some kind of themed party. There's too much other better Morricone music out there!
I like Ennio Morricone and I am sure these pieces fit in the contexts for which they were intended, but I could have gone on quite happily without ever having heard Crime and Dissonance.

Pros and Cons.........2006-03-10

Pros:
Ennio Morricone was a terrific experimental composer. This music is Wierd.

Cons:
Kind of wierd combination of songs.. a lot of them don't feel like they should be on the same album.

Love Morricone, hate this collection.......2006-01-08

It's as if they took the most obnoxious parts they could find, and memorialized them.

Morricone is the master. But this collection misrepresents his genius.

I guess the Dissonance part in the title excuses all.

Essential Morricone.......2005-12-20

Crime and Dissonance is by far the best collection of Ennio Morricone's film music on the market. Primarily, because it focuses exclusively on a phase of Morricone's career that's largely been ignored (until now). This 2 disc collection contains some of Morricone's most startling, dark, spooky and adventurous music. Composed largely for obscure Italian horror movies and crime dramas, the music contained here is quite innovative for its time. Filled with almost avant jazz and psychedelic sounds, this is a great listen. The excellent tracklisting ignores chronology in favor of a thematic flow, and it works. This two disc set along with one of the many fine Morricone Western score collections is essential for any good music library. The man was far more than just a film composer, as this disc proves. Excellent.

Another Morriconne Collection.......2005-12-14

This compilation is gifted with lush photographs that depict the films they represent. However, not only are there far more vibrant Morriconne compilations available but the majority of these "rare" tracks already exist on other compilations. I love and treasure anything by Morriconne but, this compilation seems inappropriate especially with the Thriller Collection available (which mirrors this compilation in selections and tone). Out of the Argento/Morriconne collection, main titles compilations, and miscellaneous other soundtracks this one ranks among Wolf at a groveling beautiful suspensful mediocrity. But, when mediocore is written in the same sentence as Morriconne; one can only expect it to be the most heavenly kind of medicore.

Average customer rating:

Great CD
wow this is amazing
CD shows many possibles for pros and student alike
great player, selection of music a bit disappointing
This is a ravishingly diverse album, proving CL's Greatness!

The Virtuoso Trombone

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Trombonastics
Four of a Kind, Music for Trombone Quartet
American Trombone Concertos
Christian Lindberg: Songs for Sunset
The Criminal Trombone

ASIN: B0000016B1
Release Date: 1993-07-06

Tracks:

The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee
Sonata (Vox Gabrieli) For Trombone And Piano
Ballade Pour Trombone Et Piano
Csardas
Liebesleid
Blue Bells Of Scotland
Allegro Moderato Meastoso
Allegretto Grazioso
Leid Des Raufbolds (Swashbuckler's Song)
Allegro Moderato Meastoso
Sequenza V For Trombone Solo

Customer Reviews:

Great CD.......2006-08-24

This is a great CD for any trombonist's collection...As was mentioned before, the Blue Bells, Czardas and Hindemith are all first rate. The largest contribution to the very small collection of quality trombone recordings out there, however, is the much overlooked and extremely beautiful Sulek Sonata. The artist does such a first rate job presenting such a wonderful piece of music, it's worth the entire cost of the CD in one track.

wow this is amazing.......2006-03-09

I am quite impressed by this recording. Christian Lindberg gives a flawless performance of Flight of the Bumblebee, Bluebells of Scotland, and the Hindemith Sonate. This should be in every trombonist's CD collection.

CD shows many possibles for pros and student alike.......2000-06-27

This CD shows Christians virtuosity yet it also proves that the trombone is capable of more than slow ballads. Ive studied with Christian and I can tell you though this CD seems to be as hard as it comes there are better of his CDs. This is probably his 2nd best though. He is a master of trombone and this CD allows students and professionals to 1>Hear a real trombone sound 2>Dicover new peices 2>and also show the trombones possivilities. THIS IS A GREAT CD TO LISTEN TO AND PERFORM ALONG SIDE IN PRACTICE!

great player, selection of music a bit disappointing.......2000-02-03

I hated to rate this a 3 stars, because the trombone playing is awesome! However, the selection of music leaves much to be desired, in my opinion. However, 2 of the selections, Flight of the Bumblebee (did he really play the trombone that fast? ), and Blue Bells of Scotland (magnificent!), are so tremendous that any trombone player should buy this CD just for those 2 tracks.

This is a ravishingly diverse album, proving CL's Greatness!.......1999-11-16

What I love most of this album is the great diversity of styles created by the different composers of this album. My favorite songs are
1) Blue Bells
2) Csardas
3) Liesbald (or however you spell it)

Tracks:

Three pieces For Clarinet Solo (1918): I.
Three pieces For Clarinet Solo (1918): II.
Three pieces For Clarinet Solo (1918): III.
Lied per clarinet solo (1983)
Sequenza IX per Clarinetto solo (1980)
In Freundschaft, Op.46
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): I.
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): II
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): III.
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): IV.
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): V.
Quatour pour la fin du temps (1940): Abime des oiseaux
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier B
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier C
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier E
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier A
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier D
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier F

Customer Reviews:

very virtuosic.......2003-11-22

The pieces on this cd are very difficult to perform & on this cd are performed so perfectly. A great collection of 20th century music.

Great cd.......2001-08-28

Paul Meyer plays incredibly here. I can't imagine why anyone would be disappointed with his sound. No, it's not the French sound of 40 years ago, but it's a beautiful, flexible sound that works beautifully in these pieces. The pieces on the cd are some of the high points in clarinet literature in the twentieth century. The Berio Sequenza especially is an incredible piece of music for the clarinet. Anyone interested in the clarinet should have this cd.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SWEET FRENCH EMBOUCHURE?.......2000-10-22

As Ignatius Gennusa use to tell me, "anyone can blow into a clarinet and push buttons; very few people these days seem to care about a beautiful tone such as Ralph McLane's, however".

And I say Mr Gennusa would find this clarinetist's sound rather painful; I unquestionably do. And, thus, herein the tone quality cries out as the major dissapointment with this disc.

Paul Meyer: 20th Century Music for Unaccompanied Clarinet.......2000-08-25

As usual, I am quite impressed by the performance by Paul Meyer. Although he sometimes plays pieces a little on the fast side, his interpretations were in good taste. I was a little surprsied by his tone in the Stravinsky 3 pieces. Of the CD's I own performed by him, I always thought his tone had focus and a rich tone, but this selection on the CD wasn't quite what I was familiar with in his playing. However, a wonderful performance of Andre Jolivet's "Asceses pour clarinette". How often do I hear clarinet players struggle with multiphonics and just contemporary works in general. I would recommend this CD.

Nobody Knows de Trouble I See: Trompetenkonzerte des 20. Jahrhunderts

Average customer rating:

Nobody Knows de Trouble I See: Trompetenkonzerte des 20. Jahrhunderts

Manufacturer: Capriccio
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Reinhold Friedrich Plays Mason, Walter, Rihm
Zimmerman: Cello Concerto; Impromptu; Antiphonen; Photoptosis

ASIN: B000001WQU
Release Date: 1994-10-12

Tracks:

Nobody Knows De Trouble I See: Conc in C
Sequenza X in C
Sine Nomine I
Vier Stucke: '1/4nt' = 84
Vier Stucke: '1/4nt' = 58
Vier Stucke: '1/4nt' = 88
Vier Stucke: '1/4nt' = 66
The Broken Farewell in D

Average customer rating:

Review of Flute Passion CD

Flute Passion

Manufacturer: EMI Classics Imports
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00008PW65
Release Date: 2003-11-04

Tracks:

IV. Bourrees 1 & 2 - Elaine Schaffer
V. Polonaise & Double - Elaine Schaffer
VI. Menuet - Elaine Schaffer
VII. Badinerie - Elaine Schaffer
II. Siciliano - Michel Debost
Ouverture - David Munrow
Les Plaisirs - David Munrow
Sonate Pour 2 Flutes En Sol Majeur, Op.2 No.1: II. Andante - Allegro - James Galway
I. Largo - Bruno Cavallo
II. 'Fantasmi' Presto - Bruno Cavallo
III. Largo - Bruno Cavallo
IV. Presto - Bruno Cavallo
V. Largo 'II Sonno' - Bruno Cavallo
VI. Allegro - Bruno Cavallo
I. Allegro - Michel Sanvoisin
Concerto Pour Flute, Harpe & Orchestra En Ut Majeur, K.299: II. Andantino - James Galway
Romance Pour Flute & Piano En La Majeur, Op.94 No.1 - Jean-Pierre Rampal
L'Arlesienne: Menuet - Michel Debost
Carmen: Entracte (Acte III) - Michel Debost
L'Oiseau Des Bois, Idylle Pour Flute & 4 Cors, Op.21 - John Solum
Casse-Noisette: Danse Des Mirlitons - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Adagio - London Symphony Orchestra
L'Oiseau Bleu Et La Princess Florine - London Symphony Orchestra
Le Carnaval Des Animaux: Voliere - Francois Laurent
Pelleas Et Melisande: Sicilienne - Patricia Nagle
Daphnis Et Chloe: Pantomime - Michel Debost

Tracks:

Syrinx Pour Flute Seule - Michel Debost
Danse De La Chevre Pour Flute Seule - Jonathan Snowden
Entr'acte - Roger Bourdin
I. Allegro Malinconico - Eric Le Sage
II. Cantilene - Eric Le Sage
III. Presto Giocoso - Eric Le Sage
Density 21/5 Pour Flute Seule - Michel Debost
I. Pan - Raymund Havenith
Ballade Pour Flute, Orchestre A Cordes & Piano - Aurele Nicolet
Le Merle Noir - Karlheinz Zoller
Vermont Counterpoint - Ransom Wilson
I. Allegretto - Kathleen Chastain
II. Andante - Kathleen Chastain
III. Anime - Kathleen Chastain
Sequenza Pour Flute Seule - Karlheinz Zoller
Chant De Linos, Pour Flute & Piano - Eric Le Sage

Customer Reviews:

Review of Flute Passion CD.......2004-08-08

I came across this CD while looking for recordings of music that I could play to Flute Students. This CD is a winner, as it contains music at the Grade -7 level (Australia) and makes a wonderful purchase for both teachers and students. The various artists represented on the CD's are amongst the best flautists in the world. An excellent choice for anyone passionate about the flute.

Luciano Berio: The Complete Works for Solo Piano - David Arden

Average customer rating:

y-y-yawwwn!
Some people just don't like modern music
Technically Brilliant...
the piano?not where Berio's imagination bears fruit.

Luciano Berio: The Complete Works for Solo Piano - David Arden

Manufacturer: New Albion Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Luciano Berio: Corale (Sequenza VIII), for Violin, 2 Horns & Strings / Chemins II (Sequenza VI) / Chemins IV (Sequenza VII) / Ritorno degli Snovidenia, for Cello & Small Orchestra / "Points on the Curve to Find...", for Piano & 22 Instrumentalists - Pierre Boulez
Luciano Berio: The String Quartets
Luciano Berio: Laborintus 2
20/21 - Berio: Sequenzas / Ensemble InterContemporain
Berio: Voci

ASIN: B000000R4D
Release Date: 1996-11-08

Tracks:

Cinque Variazioni
Wasserklavier
Sequenza IV
Rounds
Erdenklavier
Luftklavier
Feuerklavier
Brin
Leaf
Pettite Suite: Prelude
Pettite Suite: Petite Air
Pettite Suite: Gavotte
Pettite Suite: Petite Air II
Pettite Suite: Gigue

Amazon.com

Though Italian composer Luciano Berio is best known for his Sinfonia, this collection of his solo piano compositions is a decisive overview of his musical achievements. The centerpiece is the fourth of Berio's Sequenzas, a series of virtuoso-level compositions written for solo performers. Pianist David Arden takes one of Berio's most gently clustered works to new levels, making the long, sustained note shine while fast, bolting notes leap around the resonant echoes. Arden's execution presages Berio's long-form compositions, especially the numerous juxtapositions that Arden presents so beautifully. Jumps in dynamics from quiet to loud and light to heavy occur in all of Berio's shorter compositions. And for those who like a bit of tradition, Berio's first solo piano composition, Petite Suite (1947), closes this recording. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

y-y-yawwwn!.......2005-06-25

This music i cannot hear it is boring unlike cage or stockhausen or ligeti ok? My parents are entrepeneurs musicales bassoon and dulcimers

oh i'm jeannette i am 6

Some people just don't like modern music.......2003-06-11

The last reviewer gave this CD one star, complained of Arden's repertoire choice, and, I assume, would be equally unhappy if Arden played Ligeti or Stockhausen or even Stravinsky. Some people just don't like modern music. Too bad. This recording is great if you've got ears.

Technically Brilliant..........2002-01-06

David Arden is a world class musician from San Diego, California. His keyboard mastery is evident throughout the entire CD. Arden's choice to record Berio compositions, however, is unfortunate.

the piano?not where Berio's imagination bears fruit........2000-04-22

Luciano Berio's imagination for music expression was uncontestably the human voice, and he has contributed greatly and profoundly in that genre, not only Sinfonia, which really is not a work for the singing virtuoso voice, but his Epifanie Coro, the Sequenza #3, Circles,FolkSong arrangements,Calmo,Canticum Novissimi Testamenti, as well as two Operas,In Re Ascolto, the early tape works Visage, Omaggio a Joyce,for which his wife(now deceased) Cathy Berberian played such a collaborative role. Adorno once said somewhere that a creator pays a price to attenuate their creativity,and I believe Berio paid that price in not writing interesting piano music. The early Five Variations actually for my money is his best piece here in this fine collection. And there we find expressionist designs from the early 1950s,with bare,raw lines,usually two voices pitted against each other. His music then still revealed his immaturity, but that perhaps renderes these Variations all the more interesting in this sonic exposure by happenstance rather than vision, or some call it intuition. The Piano Sequenza he wrote after having experienced Stockhausen's impressive Klavierstuck, and Berio's piano hasn't nearly the sonic scope,shape, nor textural or structural design of complexity of the Stockhausen. I am keeping well in front of me the Berio aesthetic when I'm comparing with Herr Stockhausen. The other piano works were dedications Erdenklavier,Leaf to professors who he got to know during his numerous residencies at universities across the United States,so this music is like birthday celebration,token gifts and conversational pieces,goodbye pieces, thanks for the memeory pieces. The Piano Sequenza however has fascinating features with its dialectic of dialogue between two sonic opposites the struck chord to the arpeggiated one. And the fact that Berio knew how to pace his materials, foreshadowing, and short changing his phrases saving the musical argument for downstream. This Sequenza admirably does that.

Luciano Berio: Corale (Sequenza VIII), for Violin, 2 Horns & Strings / Chemins II (Sequenza VI) / Chemins IV (Sequenza VII) / Ritorno degli Snovidenia, for Cello & Small Orchestra / "Points on the Curve to Find...", for Piano & 22 Instrumentalists - Pierre Boulez

Average customer rating:

A splendid combination of simple colour and ingenious concepts in five concertos
no longevity factor here. . . . . . . . . . .
stunning modern concertos

Luciano Berio: Corale (Sequenza VIII), for Violin, 2 Horns & Strings / Chemins II (Sequenza VI) / Chemins IV (Sequenza VII) / Ritorno degli Snovidenia, for Cello & Small Orchestra / "Points on the Curve to Find...", for Piano & 22 Instrumentalists - Pierre Boulez
Luciano Berio , Jean Strauch , Jean Sulem , Laszlo Hadady , Maryvonne Le Dizes , Pierre-Laurent Aimard , Pierre Boulez , and Ensemble InterContemporain
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Luciano Berio: Laborintus 2
Luigi Nono: Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for Soprano, Piano, Orchestra & Magnetic Tape (1971-72) / ...sofferte onde serene... For Piano & Magnetic Tape (1976) / Contrapunto dialettico alla mente, for Magnetic Tape (1968) - Maurizio Pollini / Claudio Abbado
Berio: Sinfonia; Eindrücke
Xénakis: Pléïdes
Xenakis: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music

ASIN: B000009IMW
Release Date: 1991-02-08

Customer Reviews:

A splendid combination of simple colour and ingenious concepts in five concertos.......2006-08-01

The five concerto-like works by Luciano Berio on this Sony disc, performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Pierre Boulez, show the composer simultaneously exploiting every possibility inherent in one particular instrument and delighting in large and elegant orchestration. Three of the pieces are based on his solo "Sequenzas", and if you pick up this disc, you'll want a recording of the Sequenzas as well--the DG recording features the same ensemble as here, while the Naxos recording is budget-priced but high-quality.

"Chemins II" for viola and nine instruments (1967) is based on "Sequenza VI" for viola written earlier in the same year. The solo work was essentially a study in repetition, where the violist plays tremolo multistops elaborating on the same basic harmonic fields, with little snippets of melody appearing here and there and ultimately winning out in the end. The music was aggressive, with virtuoso challenges that made a clear nod to Paganini. For the orchestration that is "Chemins II", Berio has electric organ, pitched percussion, and strings joining the viola in the harmonic process, while flute, clarinet, and trombone go there own way, with the effect that the original Sequenza feels both expanded and "swallowed up". The solo violist here is Jean Sulem.

"Points on the curve to find..." for piano and 22 instrumentalists (1974) seems the most "abstract" of the pieces here. The pianist plays a undulating series of notes in demisemiquavers, and each note is elaborated upon by the instrumental ensemble. Despite the eggheadedness of its design, a clear feeling of alternative expansion and contraction is clearly audible. The piano part here is performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who as always tackles demanding repertoire with a sense of comfort and ease.

"Chemins IV" for oboe and ensemble (1975) is based on "Sequenza VII" for oboe written in 1969. Like "Sequenza VI" and its subsequent Chemins, both of these pieces are based on a sort of repetition. In the Sequenza, the oboe starts from a single note, B, and explores a limited number of intervals, though with all manner of timbres throughout. But the range of pitches slowly expands until finally two-thirds of the way through G is heard, where upon the furious osscilating ends and we get a musing exploration of a small range. In "Chemins IV", the original structure is preserved intact, with the oboe still in the spotlight but with cooperation from other instruments, some of which take over for a few bars while the oboe holds back. Here the oboe part is performed by Laszlo Hadady.

"Ritorno degli snovidenia" for cello and small orchestra (1976-77) was written for Mstislav Rostropovich. While the famous cellist was a bitter critic of the Soviet Union, Berio had an attitude of idealism towards the Russian revolution, and saw its dream crushed only later by Stalinism. He wanted to express the idea of "betrayal" in musical terms. Well, I can't here anything that concrete here. Instead, the piece continues the technique heard before in "Points on the curve to find..." of generated harmonies from a central melodic line, with the idea of nostalgia communicated by repeated cells and returns to previously heard material. In a way, this is the most beautiful piece of the works here, with softly bubbling textures and a passionate cello line, performed in this recording by Pierre Strauch.

The latest piece on the disc is "Corale" for violins, two horns, and strings (1981), based on "Sequenza VIII" for solo violin. This is another orchestration that keeps the original Sequenza intact. Where the solo piece had the violinist playing a chaconne on two notes, A and B, occasionally darting off into new melodic lines before returning to the basics, "Corale" simply expands this with more strings and horns. The occasional pauses found in the Sequenza are here filled out with original material. This probably has the clearest dramatic arc of the five pieces, and at the end the most impressive forces are not the violin (played here by Maryvonne Le Dizes) and strings, but the horns who almost heroically rise above the orchestra.

The way in which each of these pieces encompass a whole world of timbres and attacks while still faithfully revolving around one central idea is fascinating. The best introduction to the music of Luciano Berio is certainly his "Sinfonia" (with a great new recording recently out on DG), but for those interested in his work, highly personal yet always based on intriguing theory, these five concertos and the "Sequenzas" are a must-have.

no longevity factor here. . . . . . . . . . . .......2005-03-01

If youlike Luciano Berio this disk is for you, I listened to it again after many years, I love the Sequenzas all of them but here they are transmogrified from their combustible anarchistic like gestures,well the Oboe Sequenza was the weakest of the lot interms of mystery or gestures, and the originbal utilizes a drone that the Oboist plays over,So from out of the stall the piece was destined for change. The Violin Sequenza as well, when Berio gets away from his wonderful pointillistic lyricism as in the Flute and Trombone Sequenzas well the results are fairly one-dimensional for strings, the Viola Sequenza as well,,,lots of gratuitous tremoli,and the Violoncello Sequenza is a late one (re-done please note for Contrabass by S.Scondanibbio)The Sequenzas were about the solo heroic performer braving the globe, or like in the Fifth Sequenza dedicated to Glock the Clown. The two "Chemins" here are like studies, and not fascinating, I guess it is far too easy to look at Berio's work in retrospect and say it really hasn't held up, well not the pieces here, all these are rather weak. He was a creator who did search for the points of least resistance within the avant-garde language, and did render his music for the masses far more "user-friendly" in many respects. He really had no original mind for the timbres of the piano and really did not write anything primary here, That's OK Luciano 'Tutti bene', for all have done it prior as Cage, Stockhausen and Boulez, a tall order to mount another piano language. Berio did bridge the gap to the avant-garde the way Phil Glass bridged new music to the visual arts world and the cash box, without flinching, another creator who chose the points of least resistance in creating music. There is no equal however in Berio's oeuvre of vocal music.

stunning modern concertos.......2003-06-30

Boulez and his Ensemble InterContemporain here perform 5 concertos by Berio (may he rest in peace!), and it is a stunning tour de force! The works, composed between 1967 and 1981, feature cello, viola, oboe, violin and piano respectively. I'm not familiar with the other soloists, but it is Pierre-Laurent Aimard, well-known for his recent recordings of Messiaen and Ligeti, that plays on the piano concerto. The recordings were made at IRCAM in April of 1989 under Berio's supervision, and the disc was first released in 1990.

The cello concerto was commissioned as a feature for Mstislav Rostropovich, and the title, which translates as "Return of the Dreams," indicated for Berio a reconciliation between his idealistic and Rostropovich's decisively negative view of the Russian Revolution. The piece incorporates three fragments of Russian revolutionary songs, and is "a hommage to a dream betrayed," in Berio's words.

None of the other works have such an interesting story behind them. "Chemins" means "paths," and the method of these pieces is to take a solo line and proliferate orchestral responses from it in layers. The "Corale" for violin uses this method along with the "Chemin" for viola and oboe -- Berio called it "Corale" because the responding strings were in the same voice as the solo instrument unlike the other two. "Ritorno" and "Points On a Curve" utilize another method, also involving a solo line and response, but generating "waves of harmonic undulations in such a way as to define a slowly changing reservoir of pitches." To the extent that these techniques are clear to me at all, it is thanks to the excellent liner notes of David Osmond Smith.

Fortunately these works are beautiful regardless of whether their construction is understood. Berio combines a lyrical sensibility with atonality and the most complex and original of compositional techniques. If you have heard and enjoyed, for instance, last year's outstanding recording of VOCI by Kim Kashkashian on ECM (see my 7/28/02 review), you are likely to enjoy these concerti.