Search - Luciano Berio, Andrea Lucchesini :: Berio: Concerto II/Schubert: Rendering/Boccherini: Quattro Versioni Originali Della Ritirata Notturna Di Madrid

Schubert lovers, don't miss this one

Mark Grindell | 10/29/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you love Schubert, get this CD. Schubert was working on a 10th symphony when he died, and in Rendering, Berio does a superb job of taking those fragments and turning it into a wonderfully satisfying work. The liner stresses this isn't a completion of the symphony, and that's true -- gaps in the music are filled with a soft web of abstract sounds. But emotionally, it feels like a complete symphony: something that combines the energy of the 9th with the darkness of the 8th, ending up very much in an upbeat, major key mood. The melodies are as strong as any Schubert work -- they'll stay with you forever."

Utterly... I could never play this if I got to 130 years old

Mark Grindell | Shipley,West Yorkshire | 07/06/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The main piece here is an extension of Points On The Curve to Find, written in the early 70's. You would not think that LB has not mellowed at all. This is a bit like the fifth movement of sinfonia, suddenly hitting you from God knows where when you thought it was safe to get out there and swim.The piano player has got to be either an android or a bebop player on steriods.... The piano part starts off without any recognisable faces from the original piece, which is rather uncharacteristic of Berios Chemins extension pieces, but settles out into something like Wasserclavier meets the Werewolf.I love this stuff - if you could just keep up the finger work, you would kill to be be able to play like this. I wish the piece went on a bit longer. It has segements of brilliant coherence, with the more puzzling bits coming towards the beginnning and the end.Damn...."

Accessible Work by Modern Icon

Jake Wagner | California, USA | 05/31/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rendering is Berio's homage to the memory of Schubert. He has taken the fragments that Schubert had written down for a projected tenth symphony and orchestrated them to provide us with what appears to be a partially restored masterpiece. To be as faithful as possible to the original, Berio signals gaps by pianissimo writing accompanied by the celesta.The result is very definitely Schubertian but with a much brighter outlook than that presented in the fully completed late symphonies. Berio's rendering may not be exactly what Schubert had in mind, but it is appealing nonetheless, and one of the most accessible of works by serious contemporary composers.The other major piece presented here is a piano concerto, "Echoing Curves," which is far harder to understand. Perhaps its unusual textures will grow on me after repeated listenings. In any case, the Rendering of Schubert's tenth is sufficient cause for me to be satisfied with this disk."