The piano?not where Berio's imagination bears fruit.
scarecrow | Chicago, Illinois United States | 04/21/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Some people just don't like modern music
Daniel Pi | Minnesota | 06/10/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1