#berio

“Folk Songs” for mezzo-soprano and seven instruments (1964) Luciano Berio

Berio - Rendering (1989)

When Franz Schubert passed away in 1828, he left behind a plethora of unfinished fragments of works. His “unfinished Symphony” (numbered 8) always gets the most attention because there are at least two completed movements, but it isn’t the only one. There is also an unfinished “tenth” symphony, of which we only have piano sketches of an almost complete first movement, slow movement, and a bizarre “scherzo” movement. As with other “completions” of famous unfinished works, different composers and enthusiasts have orchestrated and “completed” Schubert’s rough drafts. But composer Luciano Berio had a different idea. He “completed” the work by filling in the gaps with music of his own. While ‘completionists’ would hope the listener wouldn’t notice where Schubert ends and the ghostwriter begins, Berio offers no pretense. The connective tissue between “Schubert’s original” sketches is made up of the motifs Schubert wrote but filtered through contemporary orchestral writing that the old master would never have thought of. The result is a bizarre but unique dreamlike work, where we move between Schubert’s world, the “symphony that could have been”, and then a kind of sonic haze of orchestral colors. The inclusion of the celesta helps to give off this hazy daydream-like mood with its soft chiming bells. At first listen, these shifts feel a bit jarring, but the longer you stick with it, the more you notice that they are, in a way, like the kinds of stark contrasts and sudden shifts in mood and modulation that you would hear in any orthodox Schubert piece.  The first movement opens with a conventional fanfare to push the symphony off, with a kind of “alpine vacation” optimism. Soon, though, the music melts away and transitions into a daydream episode. Fluttering winds, lyrical violin passages, and celesta chimes overlap and carry us into murky cluster chords. We flip the switch back to the symphony as if nothing happened. The slow movement has the beautiful melodies carrying over convention into non-convention and back again. And the final movement, the ‘scherzo’, is a strange mix of fun folk dancing and counterpoint exercise, again being connected through rhapsodic Berio orchestra colors. 

Movements:

1. Allegro

2. Andante

it’s been approximately a year since i posted my 2019 list, so here goes nothing!

100. Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 8

99. Bohuslav Martinu - String Trio No. 1

98. György Ligeti - String Quartet No. 1

97. G.F. Haas - String Quartet No. 2

96. Arnold Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht

95. William Walton - Violin Concerto

94. Samuel Barber - Violin Concerto

93. Maurice Ravel - Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé

92. Bela Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

91. Krysztof Penderecki - Threnody

90. G.F. Handel/Johan Halverson - Passacaglia

89. Max Grafe - Moon Cycles

88. John Cage - 59 ½ for a string player

87. J.S. Bach - Harpsichord Concerto No. 1

86. Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1

85. Jennifer Higdon - blue cathedral

84. Sergei Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 1

83. George Crumb - Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening)

82. Paul Hindemith - String Quartet No. 4

81. Alban Berg - Violin Concerto

80. Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 10

79. Luciano Berio - Sequenza XIVb

78. Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians

77. Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question

76. Eugene Ysaye - Solo Sonata No. 2

75. Tomás Luis de Victoria - O magnum mysterium

74. Sergei Prokofiev - Sinfonia concertante

73. Maurice Ravel - String Quartet

72. György Ligeti - String Quartet No. 2

71. Witold Lutosławski - Partita (for Violin & Orchestra)

70. Pierre Boulez - Anthemes

69. Augusta Read Thomas - Incantation

68. Erwin Schulhoff - Five Pieces

67. Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 6

66. Krysztof Penderecki - Cadenza

65. Steve Reich - Music for Pieces of Wood

64. John Luther Adams - Dream of the Canyon Wren

63. Caroline Shaw - Valencia

62. Brian Ferneyhough - String Quartet No. 6

61. G.F. Haas - Solo (for viola d’amore)

60. Paul Hindemith - Viola Sonata

59. Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis

58. Andy Akhio - to wALk Or ruN in wEst harlem

57. Dmitri Shostakovich - Violin Sonata

56. Jessie Montgomery - Starburst

55. John Corigliano - Symphony No. 1

54. Kate Soper - Ipsa Dixit

53. Grazyna Bacewicz - Concerto for Strings

52. Alfred Schnittke - Concerto for Piano and Strings

51. Ben Johnston - String Quartet No. 4

50. Igor Stravinsky - Petrouchka

49. Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 10

48. Arnold Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire

47. Folke Rabe - Basta

46. Bela Bartok - String Quartet No. 4

45. Jennifer Higdon - Viola Concerto

44. Elizabeth Maconchy - String Quartet No. 11

43. György Ligeti - Lux aeterna

42. Herbert Howells - Elegy

41. Olivier Messiaen - Quatuor pour la fin du temps

40. J.S. Bach - Violin Sonata No. 2

39. Arvo Pärt - Fratres

38. Alberto Ginastera - Piano Concerto No. 1

37. Igor Stravinsky - L’oiseau de feu

36. John Luther Adams - The Wind in High Places

35. Alberto Ginastera - Harp Concerto

34. Silvestre Revueltas - La noche de los Mayas

33. William Grant Still - Afro-American Symphony

32. George Rochberg - String Quartet No. 3

31. Jessie Montgomery - Source Code

30. Ben Johnston - String Quartet No. 7

29. Bedrïch Smetana - String Quartet No. 1

28. Caroline Shaw - Entr’acte

27. Igor Stravinsky - Le sacre du printemps

26. Alberto Ginastera - Violin Concerto

25. Kaija Saariaho - Nocturne

24. Grazyna Bacewicz - Quartet for Four Violins

23. György Ligeti - Sechs Bagatellen/Musica Ricercata

22. Salvatore Sciarrino - Capricci per violino solo

21. Dai Fujikura - Fluid Calligraphy

20. Sky Macklay - Many, Many Cadences

19. Alberto Ginastera - String Quartet No. 1

18. György Ligeti - Violin Concerto

17. Luciano Berio - Sequenza III

16. Jessie Montgomery - Strum

15. George Crumb - Black Angels

14. Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 8

13. Iannis Xenakis - Naama

12. Luciano Berio - Sequenza VIII

11. Toru Takemitsu - Rain Spell

10. Andy Akhio - NO one to kNOW one

9. Alberto Ginastera - String Quartet No. 2

8. Alfred Schnittke - Concerto Grosso No. 1

7. Caroline Shaw - Partita for Eight Voices

6. John Luther Adams - Canticles of the Sky

5. György Ligeti - Mysteries of the Macabre

4. Maurice Ravel - Introduction & Allegro

3. Jennifer Higdon - Violin Concerto

2. György Ligeti - Requiem

“Berio!”