Martin Luther King Archive

BERIO: Sinfonia; MAHLER: Ten Early Songs – Goerne, bari./The Synergy Vocals/BBC Sym. Orch./Josep Pons – Harmonia mundi

by Audiophile Audition | Oct 11, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

A great way to reexamine Berio’s genius. LUCIANO BERIO: Sinfonia; GUSTAV MAHLER: Ten Early Songs – Matthias Goerne, bari./The Synergy Vocals/BBC Sym. Orch./Josep Pons – Harmonia mundi/PIAS HMC 902180, 61:11, (9/09/16) ****: The late 1950s and 1960s “new music” movement in Europe or what was the avant-garde of the time took off a little slower in Italy (not particularly known even today as a country that produces a lot of ‘contemporary classical’ music.) There are a lot of reasons for this but certainly to be included on the short list would be Luigi Dallapiccolo, Luigi Nono, composer-conductor Bruno Maderna and the present Luciano Berio; maybe the best and most renowned of the group. Berio had a unique talent and a style that was not embroiled in the twelve-tone serialism movement nor in the aleotoric “chance” music of the time. In fact, the very helpful and well-written program booklet notes by Jeremie Bigorie summarize nicely that Berio truly believed in “Down with Dogma!” Of his many works that earned an international performance life, the one that has survived and flourished to this day with several important recordings available is his Sinfonia for vocal ensemble and large orchestra. It is an iconoclastic […]