Luciano Berio
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Home : Home : Program Notes : Notes : Music Encyclopedia : Encyclopedia : Luciano Berio
Program Notes
Sequenza No. 1 for Flute Solo
MUSIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Adams
Luciano Berio (b. Omeglia, Italy, 1925) BSO Performance Date: June 21, 2000
Beethoven
Luciano Luci ano Berio, Berio, who who this seaso season n celebrates celebrates his 75th 75th birthday, birthday, is one of of t Beintus
important impor tant composers composers and musical musical thinkers thinkers of the second second half of the 20t
Benoit
century. A major force in the development of new music since 1950, he
Berg
produced prod uced a body of works works that that embrace embrace a wide range range of interes interests, ts, genr genr techniques techn iques and reflect reflect his his continuing continuing explorati exploration on of the human human voice, voice, t
Berio
virtu vi rtuos oso o capabi capabili liti ties es of solo solo ins instru trumen ments ts,, the the orche orchest stral ral idi idiom om,, music music th th
Brahms
and the digital processing of sound.
Boulez
Berio' Ber io's s early early musical musical educ educati ation on was was under under the the guidanc guidance e of his his grandfa grandfatt Brewbaker Britten Bruckner
father, both organists and composers, with whom he studied harmony, coun co unte terpo rpoin intt and pia piano. no. In In 1945 1945 he ente entere red d the the Milan Milan Cons Conser ervat vator ory, y, w studied studi ed composition composition with G. C. Paribeni Paribeni and G. F. Ghedini, Ghedini, graduating graduating i The foll followi owing ng year, year, he won won a Koussev Koussevitz itzky ky Founda Foundation tion scho scholars larship hip to to st
Campo Carter Felciano
with wi th Lu Luig igii Dall Dallap apicc iccol ola a at at Tan Tangle glewo wood od.. Afte Afterr ret return urnin ing g to to Mila Milan, n, Be Berio rio fo Inco In cont ntri ri Mu Musi sica calili-a a ser serie ies s of of con concer certs ts an and d a jo jour urna nall ded dedica icate ted d to co conte ntem m music. mus ic. From From 1955 1955 to 1960, 1960, he direc directed ted the the "Studio "Studio di Fonol Fonologi ogia a Musica Musicall which he and Bruno Maderna had founded at RAI (Italian Radio).
Mahler Mozart
Beginning in 1962, Mr. Berio spent a decade in the United States where
Nodaira
taugh ta ughtt at Mills Mills College, College, Harva Harvard rd Univer Universit sity y and The The Juilliar Juilliard d School. School. Dur Dur ten-yea ten -yearr span span he also tau taught ght at the Sum Summer mer Sch School ool in Dar Dartin tingto gton, n, Eng Engll
Rodrigo
and an d at Darm Darmst stad adtt in Germ German any. y. Mr. Mr. Beri Berio o retur returned ned to Euro Europe pe in in 1972, 1972, w
Rohde
collaborated coll aborated with with Pierre Boulez in developing developing IRCAM in Paris, Paris, heading it
Saariaho
electr ele ctro-a o-acou cousti stic c depar departme tment nt unt until il 1980 1980.. In 1987 1987 he foun founded ded "Ce "Centr ntro o Te Reale," Real e," an institu institute te for music music research research and and production production in in Florence, Florence, whe
Schoenberg
team tea m of mus musici icians ans and comp compute uter-sc r-scienc ience e expert experts s explor explored ed new new compo composi si
Schubert
techniques. He held the Charles Eliot Norton Chair in Poetry at Harvard
Sekiya
University in 1993-94.
Sheinfeld
Berio's Berio 's oeuvre oeuvre is is remarkable remarkable for its its breadth breadth of genre genre and idiom. His mu
Smith
stubbornly stubb ornly resists resists being being lumped lumped in with with one or anoth another er twentieth-centu twentieth-centu
Tanaka
ism."" One common ism. common thread thread Berio has explored explored through through much much of his his care
Tchaikovsky
milieu mil ieu of of the solo solo perf performe ormer, r, genera generatin ting g musical musical subs substan tance ce from from the the uni pote po tent ntia iall of of a gi given ven in inst stru rumen ment. t. In hi his s seri series es of co comp mpos ositi ition ons s cal called led Se Seq q
Wysocki
begun with the work for flute on tonight's program and now numbering
DISCOGRAPHIES:
dozen, doz en, Ber Berio io ofte often n seize seizes s on seem seeming ingly ly unid unidioma iomatic tic gest gesture ures s and and proc proce e
2001/2002 Season
bonds bon ds them them to to the the techn techniqu ique e of the perf perform ormer, er, some sometim times es in ver very y theat theat fashion. Berio writes: "As well as investigating certain specific technical in dept depth, h, in in the the Seque Sequenza nzas s I've I've also also tri tried ed to to develop develop a music musical al comm commen en the rapport between virtuoso and instrument, disassociating elements performing behavior, so as to then reconstitute them, transformed, as unities." Of Sequenza No. 1 for flute, composed for Severino Gazzelloni
http://www.berkeleysymphony.org/encyclopedia/berio.html
10/29/2004
Luciano Berio
Page 2 of 2 1958, Berio writes: Sequenza No. 1 has as its starting point a sequence of harmonic fields that generate, in the most strongly characterized ways, other musical functions. Within the work an essentially harmonic discourse, in constant evolution, is developed melodically. It was my intention to suggest, through the maximum speed of transformation, concentration and alteration of differing sound characters and differing figures, a polyphonic type of listening. The codes governing the Baroque era allowed one to write a fugue in two parts for a solo flute. Nowadays, when writing for monodic instruments, the relationship between explici and implicit, real and virtual polyphony has to be invented anew, and stands at the crux of musical creativity.
Copyright 2003 Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. All rights reserved.
http://www.berkeleysymphony.org/encyclopedia/berio.html
10/29/2004
