Luciano Berio - Sinfonia (1968)

Today is the 9th anniversary of the passing of Luciano Berio, who died at the age of 77 years, 7 months.

These notes are excerpted from the cover (enclosed), written by the composer:

The four sections into which Sinfonia (composed in 1968) is divided are not analogous to the movements of the classical symphony. The title, in fact, must be taken only in its etymological sense of "sounding together" (of eight voices and instruments). Although their expressive characters are extremely diversified these four sections are generally unified by similar harmonic and articulatory characteristics (duplication and extended repetition being among the most important.)

I. The text of the first part consists of a series of short fragments from Le Cru et le Cuit by the French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. These fragments are taken from a section of the book which analyses the structure and symbology of Brazilian myths about the origins  of water and other related myths characterized by similar structure.

II. the Second section of Sinfonia is a tribute to the memory of Dr Martin Luther King. Here the vocal part is based on his name, nothing else.

III. The main text for the third section includes excerpts from Samuel Beckett's The Unnameable, which in turn prompt a selection from many other sources, including Joyce, spoken phrases of Harvard undergraduates, slogans written by the students on the Sorbonne walls during last May's insurrection in Paris (at which I was present), recorded dialogues with my friends and family, snatches of solfege and so on.

IV. The text for the fourth section, a sort of coda, is based on a short selection from those used in the three preceding parts.

Side One:

a-Sinfonia I & II

Side Two:

b-Sinfonia III & IV

performed by the New York Philharmonic with The Swingle Singrers under the direction of Luciano Berio
























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Avant Garde Piano REPOST

various artists compilation - Avant Garde Piano

released on LP

David Burge - piano

LUCIANO BERIO - Sequenza IV (1966)

Luciano Berio completed Sequenza IV during the spring of 1966, thereby adding another work to his series of solo Sequenze (the first is for flute, the second for harp, the third for voice, the fourth for piano, the fifth for trombone, and the sixth for viola.) In each of these compositions the composer has written a work of substance that is unique to its specific repertory. Having first thoroughly reassessed the potential of the given instrument (or voice, in the case of Sequenza III), he then seizes on those particular capabilities that best suit his extraordinary imagination and proceeds to develop them in an organic manner.

LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA - Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera (1952)

For purity of melodic expression, few recent piano compositions can rival the Quaderno Musicale by Luigi Dallapiccola. Written in the classical twelve-tone technique, it has already become a "classic" work in the repertory. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival in 1952, and "is dedicated to my dear daughter Annalibera on the day of her eighth birthday."

The title, Musical Notebook for Annalibera, is not without reference to another Musical Notebook - that for Anna Magdalena Bach. In fact, in the first movement one may hear the familiar B-A-C-H figure (always, however, transposed from the usual B-flat starting point - would the fastidious Italian have found such an overly direct homage ostentatious?) Like Bach, Dallapiccola is concerned with counterpoint; three of the succeeding ten movements are strict canons.

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN - Klavierstuck VIII (1954)

As is the case with all the music on this recording, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klavierstuck VIII is notated with extreme care with regard to pitches, rhythms, and dynamics. The ninety-six-second span of the work is articulated by assymmetrical phrases of great activity interspersed with moments of repose, the latter invariably consisting of single pitches which, however, are never of the same duration. This balance between activity and repose gives shape to the characteristically abstract, spatial nature of the music.

PIERRE BOULEZ - Premiere Sonate (1947)

The First Sonata by Pierre Boulez is an early work, often overshadowed by the massive Second Sonata and the fantastic maze which constitutes the Third. Astonishing in itself, the First Sonata is even more impressive when one considers the youth of its author and the time of its writing (the first two years after the cultural ravages of World War II). It is often said that this work and the early Flute Sonatine show the strong influence of Webern; this may be so, but it is an assertive, flamboyant type of Webernism unknown in the older composer's works.
...
The piano writing itself is remarkable. Virtually the entire keyboard is utilized at all times, especially in the rapid sections. In other passages a new kind of counterpoint depends for its effect not at all on the progress of individual voices, which are essentially unheard, but on the resultant sound of several equal voices moving at unequal speeds.
While Boulez continues to use bar lines in this and several succeeding works, they are not meant to imply metrical accents but are inserted "as visual aids" to the performer. Several summers ago I had a visit from Ernst Krenek at a time when I was preparing the First Sonata. I recall with amusement an hour or so during which I played passages over and over while that marvelous gentleman, in a flaming orange shirt, brown shorts, and sandals, strode around the room in a most concerned manner as he tried to coax me into completely eliminating any semblance of beat or bar line accent.

ERNST KRENEK - Sechs Vermessene (1958)

Krenek's own Sechs Vermessene also employ bar lines, and the pitches, rhythms, durations, densities, and dynamics are achieved by a process of serialization that is as close to "total" as is humanly possible. Thus, in a certain sense, the music is "composed" before a single note is set down (one may be reminded, obliquely, of the title of Machaut's rondeau: "Ma fin est mon commencement, et mon commencement ma fin"). Due to the complexity of the serialization, and in spite of the clarity of Krenek's notational solutions, some formidable performance problems, especially rhythmic, are presented to the pianist. Therefore it is interesting to note that the effect of much of the Six Measurements is that of random improvisation, a fact that genuinely delights the composer! (David Burge)



Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Luciano Berio - Sequenza IV {9:23}

2. Luigi Dallapiccola - Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera {12:47}

Side 2

1. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Klaveierstuck VIII {1:36}

2. Pierre Boulez - Premiere Sonate {9:06}

3. Ernst Krenek - Sechs Vermessene {10:58}

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A-Ronne/Cries of London

Luciano Berio and Swingle II - A-Ronne/Cries of London

LP released in 1976

Swingle II: Olive Simpson, Catherine Bott - sopranos; Carol Hall, Linda Hirst - mezzo-sopranos; John Potter, Ward Swingle - tenors; John Lubbock, David Beavan - basses

"A-Ronne" was recorded in February 1976, "Cries of London" in July 1976, both in Decca Studio 3, West Hampstead, London

The subject of "A-Ronne" is the elementary vocalisation of a text and its transformation into something perhaps equally elementary but difficult to describe. In fact this is not a case of a musical composition in the usual sense of the term, even if the procedures which often organise its course are musical (use of inflections and intonations, development of alliterations and of transitions between sound and noise, occasional use of elementary melodies, polyphonies and heterophonies). The musical sense of "A-Ronne" is basic: that is, it is common to any experience, from daily speech to theatre, where changes in expression imply and document changes in meaning. This is why I prefer to define this work as a documentary on a poem by Edoardo Sanguineti, as one would say a documentary on a painting or on an exotic country. Sanguineti's poem, which undergoes different readings, is not treated as a text to set to music but rather as a text to be analysed and as a generator of different vocal situations and expressions. But finally "A-Ronne" is also a kind of madrigale rappresentativo - i.e. theatre for the ear of the late Italian XVI century - and a vocal naive painting because the range of the given situations, no matter how wide, can always be related to elementary situations, to recognisable, familiar and often obvious feelings: a social gathering, speech in a square, a speech therapy session, the confessional, the barracks, the bedroom, etc.

Sanguineti's poem - which in "A-Ronne" is repeated about twenty times and almost always from beginning to end - exposes three themes: in the first part the theme of the Beginning, in the second part the theme of the Middle and in the third part that of the End. The poem is strictly built on quotations in different languages that go from the beginning of the New Testament of John (in Latin, Greek and German: Luther's translation and changes made by Goethe in "Faust") to a verse by Eliot; from a verse by Dante to the first word of the Communist Manifesto; from a few words of an essay by Barthes on Bataille to the last three words, the three signs (ette, conne, ronne) with which the Italian alphabet, in old times, concluded after z: from which comes the dictum, no longer in use "from A to Ronne" instead of "from A to Z". Therefore this poem is also a very articulated and discontinuous sequence of figures of speech. This is why in "A-Ronne" one often encounters musical figures of speech. The occasional sung sections do not have an autonomous musical significance: they are moments among many others - and perhaps the simplest - in the liturgy of vocal gestures. Only the brief final section, based on a series of very elementary harmonic "alliterations" has its own musical autonomy.

Thus the musical sense of "A-Ronne" is not to be found in the sung sections but in the relation that is established between a written text and a "grammar" of vocal behaviour, between a poem that is constantly faithful to its own words and a vocal articulation that continuously modifies its meaning and its referential apsects. Thus it happens that the two levels (that of the written text and that of the vocal behaviour) always interact in a different way, always producing new meanings. This is directly analogous to what generally happens in vocal music and in daily speech where the relation between the two levels (the grammatical one and the acoustical one) is substantially responsible for the infinite possibilities of human speech and singing.

These "Cries of London" for eight voices (2 Sopranos, 2 Altos, 2 Tenors, 2 Basses) are a re-working of a composition of the same name written in 1974 for the "King's Singers" (2 Counter Tenors, 1 Tenor, 2 Baritones, 1 Bass). In this new version the "Cries of London" become a short cycle of seven vocal pieces of a folk nature in which a simple piece regularly alternates with a musically more complex one and where the fifth "cry" is the exact repetition of the first (the text of which is also used in the third "cry"). The seventh piece, "Cry of Cries," is a commentary on the preceding "cries": although it uses the same melodies and the same harmonic characteristics it is musically detached as if recalling them from a distance. . . . As a whole this short cycle can also be heard as an exercise in characterisation and musical dramatisation. The text is essentially a free choice of well-known phrases of vendors in the streets of Old London. (Luciano Berio)
Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. A-Ronne {29:06}

Side 2

1. Cries of London {14:44}

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Music for Flute and Piano

various artists compilation - Music for Flute and Piano

The unaccompanied flute presents a special challenge to the composers represented on this disk because in writing for it their proven means of assuring variety are not available. Extreme contrast in timbre, density, and dynamics has been normal in the work of younger Europeans ever since the "Klangfarbenmelodie" of Webern; their fascination with "beauty of sound for its own sake" has led to an increasing use of noises and special sounds, produced by percussion, electronic means, or conventional instruments. Heterogeneous groups have replaced the string quartet and solo works are usually assigned to instruments capable of a large range of unconventional sound, such as the percussion battery or (preparable) piano. Music for solo flute is an exception to the trend: three octave-fulls of twelve tones, a range of timbre more restricted than that of many other instruments, one or two associated noises (the rush of breath without pitch or the tapping of hole-covers against rims) are all there are to work with. Even a texture of wide staccato leaps will have a ribbon-like continuity on the flute because of its homogeneous tone-color and comparatively narrow dynamic range. The composer will be working in miniature, articulating subtle shades of attack and tone-color at the disposal of his flutist: angle and pressure of breath, varieties in tonguing, the choice of fundamentals with which to overblow tones in the upper registers.In trying to do more with the instrument he will be pitting himself against Theobald Boehm, whose formidable arrangement of rods and levers had subjected the venerable flute to the requirements of 19th Century music. Flexibility and individuality among pitches had been sacrificed to perfect intonation and agility. But there sometimes appear composers and players imaginative enough to make instruments the servants of styles for which their builders did not intend them (such as in the unaccompanied violin music of Bach or the bassoon phrases in "Sacre"). In the pieces of Berio and Maderna, to some extent, and particularly in the one by Evangelisti, Gazzelloni is able to break through the chromatic grid of precisely bored holes and their perfectly tuned partials to give us glissandos, airy organums, the glint of distant overtones flickering in the midst of notes spoken "falsely." Such sounds give the hearer a fresh sense of the mystery of the vibrating air column and he becomes conscious of the mechanics of venting and overblowing which had formerly been private concerns of the player. (David Behrman, from the liner notes)

Severino Gazzelloni - flute
Aloys Kontarsky - piano

Tracks A1, A3 and B2 are for solo flute.
Tracks A2, B1, and B3 are for flute and piano.

Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Franco Evangelisti - Proporzioni {4:40}

2. Niccolo Castiglioni - Gymel {4:32}

3. Luciano Berio - Sequenza {6:32}

Side B

1. Olivier Messiaen - Merles Noir {7:01}

2. Yoritsune Madsudaira - Somaksah {5:56}

3. Bruno Maderna - Honeyrêves {6:15}

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The New Music Volume 3

various artists compilation - The New Music Volume 3

LP released in 1968

Performers:

Rome Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Maderna - conductor

Severino Gazzelloni - flute

The term "modern music" no longer suffices to describe the latest expressions of recent avant-garde cmposers. Modern music still means the music that came after Debussy and Strauss. It is Stravinsky and Ravel, Hindemith and Falla; it is Bartok, Prokofieff, Britten and Malipiero. Modern music is the breakdown of tonality and traditional harmony and the development of the twelve-tone system used by the masters of the Viennese school - Schonberg, Berg and Webern - and the spreading of this method in every country since the war. Modern music is still Dallapiccola and Petrassi, and the ready listener has little by little grown accustomed to all these expressions - the more recent ones (those relating to the relinquishing of traditional tonality) with somewhat greater difficulty.

But the works of the latest generation, those composers who have come to the fore since Hiroshima, seem to cut away violently from this pattern, as difficult as its acceptance had proved to be. So, for them the term "new music."

The evolution which has led to today's baffling results is governed by an inner logic. Once the use of the twelve-tone "series" was firmly established, the desire quite naturally arose to extend this serialization process to the other "parameters" of music, that is, to subject its rhythmic, timbral and dynamic aspects to the same laws governing the disposition of the pitch of the notes.

"Structuring" (the organization of musical material) by means of total serialization of parameters was the first step the new music took beyond Webern. This extension of the serialization process to all parameters brought about a heightening of interest and investigation into the qualities and components of sound. The increased concern for this "tone color" and other hitherto unstructured aspects of sound and the diminishing interest in pitch as the primary structural element made it necessary to alter traditional listening habits. Where pitch distribution had been the primary expressive unit, now the other parameters took on equal or greater importance.

The new music, like all other forms of contemporary art, may or may not be liked, but its consistency cannot be questioned. There is an inner logic which has determined the various phases described above and which is already creating others in more and more rapid succession, and they must not be taken as gratuitous and unrestrained expressions of individual extravagance. (from the liner notes)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Luigi Nono - Y su sangre ya viene cantado {15:57}

2. Kazuo Fukushima - Hi-kyo {9:19}

Side 2

1. Luciano Berio - Serenade I {10:22}

2. Hans Ulrich Lehmann - Quanti {10:50}

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works by Nono, Maderna and Berio

Nono/Maderna/Berio - works by Nono, Maderna and Berio

Polifonica-Monodia-Ritmica (1951) by Luigi Nono

Performed by the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Maderna

Richard Adeney - flute; Thea King - clarinet; Stephen Trier - bass clarinet; Robert Burns - saxophone; John Burden - French horn; Susan Bradshaw - piano; Charles Fletcher - percussion; Allan Fry - percussion; Reginald Flower - percussion

recorded in London

Serenata #2 (1954) by Bruno Maderna

Performed by the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Maderna

Richard Adeney - flute and piccolo; Thea King - clarinet; Wilfred Hambleton - bass clarinet; John Burden - French horn; Philip Jones - trumpet; Susan Bradshaw - piano; Osian Ellis - harp; Charles Fletcher - percussion; James Holland - percussion; Emanuel Hurwitz - violin; Cecil Aronowitz - viola; Adrian Beers - double bass

recorded in London

Differences (1958-1960) by Luciano Berio

conducted by Luciano Berio

uses multi-channel tape

Performers: Jacques Castagner - flute; Walter Lewis - clarinet; Francis Pierre - harp; Walter Trampler - viola; Seymour Barab - cello

recorded in New York City

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Luigi Nono - Polifonica-Monodia-Ritmica {10:08}

2. Bruno Maderna - Serenata #2 {11:21}

Side 2

1. Luciano Berio - Differences {13:49}

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selections of Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio - Differences/Sequenza III/Sequenza VII/Due pezzi/Chamber Music

Born in 1925, the Italian composer Luciano Berio has now firmly established his place as a great poetic musician. On this recording can be heard some of the high points of Berio's considerable output in which he is concerned as much with electronic resources as with the exploration of the limits of instruments or the human voice.

"Differences" for flute, clarinet, viola, cello, harp, and magnetic tape dates from 1958-59 and so represents one of the first successful attempts to combine natural sounds and prepared sounds from a tape. For a time the artificial sound at the centre of the work takes the place of the performers. They return with various pizzicato entries, creating a homogeneous texture which seeks only an altercation in the expression rather than a disruption in the character of the music.

The "Sequences" form a series of independent works begun in 1958, and continued in 1965 ("Sequenza III" for solo voice) and 1969 ("Sequenza VII" for oboe). "Sequenza III" - made famous by singer Cathy Berberian to whom it is dedicated - employs a very disjointed text by Markus Kutter which allows all the resources of vocal virtuosity to be used instrumentally. "Sequenza VII," written for Heinz Holliger, was first performed at Darmstadt in August, 1969, and in place of the elegant, punctuated virtuosity of "Sequenza III" substitutes an instrumental equivalent. The composer intends this work to be sustained by a very evenly sounded B natural.

The "Due pezzi" for violin and piano is in fact a triptych. It dates from 1951 and is one of the first works published by Berio. The very restrained lyricism assigns it to the essential tradition of similar works by Bartok. But the poetic density and elegant line are characteristic of all Berio's works.

The same qualities are found again in the three sections of "Chamber Music" for female voice - the text is taken from James Joyce whose work was to be a frequent source for Berio - accompanied by clarinet, cello and harp. The extremely refined and sonorous texture of this piece, written in 1953, again links the resources of the declamatory and vocal tradition with the avant-garde style of writing.

The Juilliard Ensemble is an instrumental group that Berio himself chose from graduates of the most famous conservatory in America. (Marcel Marnat)

The copy of this LP was released in 1970.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Differences {14:42}

2. Sequenza III {6:50}

Side 2

1. Sequenza VII {8:20}

2. Due pezzi {6:20}

3. Chamber Music {6:18}

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Viola Today

Karen Phillips - Viola Today

Viola (English), alto (French), Bratsche (German). Three names for an entity treated as a non-entity. The whims of tradition want to reduce its role to part filling; its tone has been described nasal, its technique awkward, and its players have been pushed aside as frustrated violinists.

No wonder we did not find ourselves in a treasure trove when selecting the compositions for this album. ( I can hear the outcry of countless composers whose viola pieces have been gathering dust on the shelves.) We were not trying, to be sure, to discover as many pieces as possible. A wide choice was not what we needed. The title "Viola Today" does not, therefore, have a representative meaning. It reflects only the few slices we picked from viola's life today. We would, however, like to see this record function as a manifesto for Viola's Lib and serve as a banner for all the other oppressed minorities; the Heckelphone, the Flexatone, the contrabss clarinet. . . (from the liner notes by Ilhan Mimaroglu)

The recordings of the viola version of John Cage's "Dream", "Viola" and "Spillihpnerak" on this album are premiere recordings.

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Dream [composed by John Cage] {6:54}

2. Sequenza VI [composed by Luciano Berio] {12:05}

Side Two

1. Viola (open-form version) [composed by Bruno Maderna] {6:17}

2. Viola (Closed-form version) [composed by Bruno Maderna] {7:11}

3. Spillihpnerak [composed by David Bedford] {8:59}

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Stockhausen-Berio

Marie-Francoise Bucquet - Stockhausen-Berio

Liner notes by Marie-Francoise Bucquet:

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (born 1928)

Klavierstück IX (1954): If I tried to persuade someone that music is time experienced through sound I would choose Stockhausen's "Klavierstück IX" as an example. Because the opening chord is played 140 times, because this chord is drenched by its own echo and produces its own halo of sound, because the phenomenon of repetition is no longer relevant here and metrical units have ceased to exist, we are at once compelled to alter our whole way of listening. Technique and interpretation count no longer; one must let oneself become impregnated by this music, feel certain sounds almost viscerally, actively experience silence, sense the flow of time, and ultimately, even fall in love with sound . . . which is, I believe, what Stockhausen expects of his interpreter.

Klavierstück XI (1956): First performed on July 28, 1957, Stockhausen's "Piano Piece XI" shares with Boulez's Third Piano Sonata the historical responsibility of being a musical prototype; one which has been taken up by many composers, and has entered the vocabulary of new music under the name of "multiple form."Taking the example of "Piano Piece XI," Stockhausen himself clarifies his intention as "not just to determine one possible solution for all the moments which occur in the unfolding of a whole, but to propose a number of equally acceptable solutions and to integrate the performer's decision regarding the version of his choice." Let me immediately point out that there are several million possibilities in the performance of this piece. By giving the performer the dangerous weapon of choice, chance is introduced in music. According to his ambitions, his imagination, or his courage the pianist can become either what Stockhausen calls a "co-creator" or else a mere pointsman. Personally I don't see how one can possibly play this piece without being totally involved. Before each performance I feel I am about to embark on an adventure, and my curiosity is not yet satisfied. The most fascinating thing about this work is that its outline changes completely with each performer.

LUCIANO BERIO (born 1925)

Cinque Variazioni (1952-53): This work was revised by Berio in 1966 ... and is recorded here for the first time. The Variations, dedicated to Luigi Dallapiccola and akin to his Quaderno Musicale di Anna Libera, belong to a period during which Berio used the strictest and most disciplined technique of composition. Yet, their spontaneity, instinctive lyricism and subtle sound effects break through the rigid frame. The last variation, extensively altered, in the new version, has a density of expression which reminds us of some of Beethoven's adagios.

Berio still uses here the variation form, but his very use of a traditional form proves how the craftsman within him has complete command over his material. This music is meant above all for the ear which can easily follow its overall design.

Sequenza IV for piano (1966): With the seven sequenze for instrument or solo voice, Berio makes a premeditated incursion into the realm of virtuosity. Sequenze I (for flute), II (for harp), III (for solo voice), IV (for piano), V (for trombone), VI (for viola), and VII (for oboe), were written over a period of eleven years: it is therefore obvious that they illustrate the successive stages of Berio's systematic research in the instrumental field.

Berio has said that the sequenze "can be considered as dramatic essays whose action resides in the relation between the soloist and his own instrument."

Himself a pianist, he exploits here the instrument's potential in a masterly way. Memories of Chopin, Liszt, Scarlatti, and Debussy occur, not at a stylistic level, but rather in a sort of digital genesis. The key structural element in this score is the extensive use of the third petal. Depressed immediately after the chosen note or chord, it isolates and prolongs the sound for a time which is precisely determined by the composer. Berio defines the role of the third pedal by explaining that in "Sequenza IV" "two discourses are superimposed, overlap, and sometimes interpenetrate: a real one (entrusted to the keyboard) and a virtual one (entrusted to the pedal)."

Tracklisting:

1. Klavierstück IX {9:18}

2. Klavierstück XI {14:24}

Side 2

1. Cinque Variazioni {9:06}

2. Sequenza IV {11:35}

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Boston Musica Viva Plays

Boston Musica Viva - Boston Musica Viva Plays

From the liner notes:

The Boston Musica Viva is a professional chamber ensemble, founded in 1969 by Richard Pittman for the performance of 20th century music. In addition to their regular concert series at Harvard, the group tours both in the U.S. and abroad. The core personnel of the group has remained unchanged since its first season.

Joseph Schwantner - Consortium I (1970)

Performers: Paula Robison - flute; William Wrzesien - clarinet; Nancy Cirillo - violin; Marcus Thompson - viola; Bruce Coppock - cello

CONSORTIUM, composed in 1970, is the first in a series of works written especially for the Boston Musica Viva. The Latin title, Consortium, meaning "group", and implying "cooperation" and "participation", relates to the multiple role played by each part of the ensemble. There are two fundamental types of instrumental relationships in the contrasting sections. the first instrumental setting places the winds against the strings; in the second setting each instrument assumes a nearly equal role. (Joseph Schwantner)

Joseph Schwantner - In Aeternum (1973)

Performers: Paul Brittan - flute, alto flute, piano, glass crystals, water gong; William Wrzesien - clarinet, bass clarinet, glass crystals, water gong; Nancy Cirillo - violin, viola, crotales; Jay Humeston - cello, crotales; Dean Anderson - percussion

IN AETERNUM for Cello and IV Players, subtitled Consortium IV, was also written specifically for the Boston Musica Viva. The title, In Aeternum, in Latin means "forever", and relates to a set structure which generates thirty-six pitches in a closed intervallicaly symmetrical cycle or loop with each pitch of the twelve-tone chromatic appearing exactly three times. Some sections of the work present specified measured rhythms and others allow the performers freedom of rhythmic choice, thus permitting a variation of interpretation from performance to performance. (Joseph Schwantner)

Charles Ives - Largo (1901)

Performers: William Wrzesien - clarinet; Nancy Cirillo - violin; Evelyn Zuckerman - piano

The work begins in G major with the piano and violin at the tempo marking of Largo. The clarinet enters at a faster tempo (Andante) and leads into a ragtime section at a faster tempo in which all three instruments play together (Quasi allegretto). This is followed by a longer statement of the Andante section, but for all three instruments. The piece closes with the music of the opening Largo for the violin and piano.

Luciano Berio - O King (1970)

Performers: Elsa Charlston - soprano; Paul Brittan - flute; William Wrzesien - clarinet; Nancy Cirillo - violin; Jay Humeston - cello; Evelyn Zuckerman - piano

O KING was written shortly after the murder of Martin Luther King. The entire text consists of, "O Martin Luther King". For most of the work, the soprano sings only the vowels of the text in what is for the most part a unison line with the five instruments.

Mario Davidovsky - Synchronisms No. 3 (1964)

Performer: Jay Humeston - cello

SYNCHRONISMS NO. 3 for cello and electronic sound was written in 1964 and is one of a series of eight works composed for various combinations of "live instruments" and electronic sounds on tape. The Synchronisms are successful and sensitive integrations of electronic sound and conventional musical sound into a unique and coherent language.

Donald Harris - Ludus II (1973)

Performers: Paul Brittan - flute; William Wrzesien - clarinet; Nancy Cirillo - violin; Jay Humeston - cello; Evelyn Zuckerman - piano

Ludus is the term derived from Latin which refers to Play or games. It was written for the Boston Musica Viva with specific players in mind. Ludus suggests a virtuosity in instrumental writing, an idea that today seems almost more related to timbral investigation than to purely mechanical or technical velocity and difficulty. It has always been my inclination to try to use instruments soloistically even where they are an intricate part of a delicately shaped ensemble fabric. (Donald Harris)

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Joseph Schwantner - Consortium I {8:31}

2. Joseph Schwantner - In Aeternum {14:52}

Side Two

1. Charles Ives - Largo {5:17}

2. Luciano Berio - O King {4:59}

3. Mario Davidovsky - Synchronisms No. 3 {4:35}

4. Donald Harris - Ludus II {10:19}

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Electronic Music/Musique Concrete

various artists compilation - Electronic Music/Musique Concrete: A Panorama of Experimental Music, Volume 1

Recorded under the supervision of Pierre Henry, in collaboration with the sound laboratories of the West German Radio, Italian Radio, French Radio and Television, and Studio Apsome in Paris.

The liner notes say:

Electronic music and musique concrete offer incredible possibilities to composers of imagination and vision. The works of eleven such composers are represented on these two discs and the rich diversity in approach and achievement testifies to the full blown presence of a new and vital art form.

In our century, one of a composer's principal functions has been to explore his environment and translate his discoveries into meaningful sonic symbols. Viewed from this angle, the development of electronic music and musique concrete over the past twenty years has followed a course of inevitability; creative artists are interpreting our contemporary life with sounds uniquely expressive of man's flight into technology and space.

In this album the listener will encounter some fascinating music that gives exciting artistic expression to the moods and tenors of today.

Note: There is a fragment of the first LP that has been broken. That means only the first tracks on each side of this LP are unplayable. All other tracks play okay. Apologies in advance for those missing tracks, but the music on this compilation is essential electronic music which makes this still worthy of posting.

UPDATE: Check the comments for the missing tracks. Thanks hamor.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The missing tracks provided by hamor are provided in the files.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Luciano Berio - Momenti {7:06}

2. Luciano Berio - Omaggio a Joyce {6:16}

3. Bruno Maderna - Continuo {8:03}

Side 2

1. Luc Ferrari - Visage V {10:37}

2. Iannis Xenakis - Orient-Occident {10:38}

3. Francois Dufrene and Jean Baronnet - U 47 {3:28}

Side 3

1. Mauricio Kagel - Transition I {12:55}

2. Herbert Eimert - Selection I {9:45}

Side 4

1. Pierre Henry - Entité {5:40}

2. György Ligeti - Artikulation {3:45}

3. André Boucourechliev - Texte I {6:12}

4. Henri Pousseur - Scambi {6:16}

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Electronic Music [1967]

various artists compilation - Electronic Music

* originally posted on August 9, 2006

Write-up by muse1453:
This is another compilation called "Electronic Music" released by the same label (Turnabout) as the Electronic Music compilation a few posts below. Not sure why this is not called "Electronic Music 2" or has another name. Anyway, it's more wicked stuff from Mimaroglu, Cage, and Berio. Enjoy.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Ilhan Mimaroglu - Agony {9:06}

2. John Cage - Fontana Mix {11:14}

Side 2

3. Luciano Berio - Visage {20:23}

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