"We must collect our thoughts, for the unexpected is always upon us, in our rooms, in the street, at the door, on a stage. Thank you, Mr. Antonio Pappano"
Actually Berio was very careful to ask permission from all composers AND the publishers, and he names the pieces, composers and publishers in the score, with "Express Written Permission granted". Some composers weren't included and felt slighted. Some of the composers WERE included, and later regretted it. It helped that it was 1968, and revolution was in the air...
Truly this masterwork of art probes the high level of craftsmanship that art developed on the 20 century. It's truly genius, rather than other kind of post modernism that can be pretty mediocre.
If anyone of you dear commentators (some of you that is) feels that it weakens the standing of this masterpiece of musical art if it is a collage of different compositions - then by ALL MEANS try sitting down to write your own collage. The art of collage is NOT easy. So save your breath and hold your peace and enjoy this composition.
I beg your pardon, but do you understand the meaning of "this" music? I think so ... And then, I ask you to explain this to me, because It's hard to understand!
If you follow the meaning and intent of the largest part of the base material (Mahler's song, St. Anthony's Sermon to the Fish, from Des Knaben Wunderhorn), you will see how brilliantly this all comes together: the pointlessness and futility of effecting social change through art. This is truly one of the greatest works of the 20th century, incorporating many of it's major themes (literally), and synthesizing them into a devastating and hellish critique of the failure of even the greatest saints of our day to seem to bring about a better world (MLKJr.).
You may want to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The exception that proves the rule perhaps, but there are no absolutes. Let's say it is a very inefficient way to achieve change. But it is false to say that it never has.
I've always loved this music, and also had the opportunity to collaborate and become friends with Berio, as a a trumpet player in Rome. Sub-titles, please. I think they are speaking and singing in English, but it's hard to say., I'm American-.
WOOOOOOW! This has always been one of my favorite pieces. But this recording, the energy - it is SO moving. Thanks for posting this. Do you have the rest of the sinfonia from the same event? This is simply beautiful.
...it can't stop the wars, can't make the old younger or lower the price of bread, can't erase solitude or dull the tread outside the door, we can only nod, yes, it's true, but no need to remind, to point, for it is all with us, always, except, perhaps at certain moments, here among these rows of balconies, in a crowd or out of it, perhaps waiting to enter, watching
Yes, Berio's Sinfonia is all too real ! It is a symphony in five movements for orchestra and eight voices, where the vocalists rarely sing, but mostly speak, whisper and shout. The third movement is a "musical collage", as it combines quotations of various musical compositions, notably the third movement of Mahler's second symphony, among many others, as well as quotations of various texts, poems, novels, and other writtings. A masterpiece of the 20th century, "thank you Mr. [Luciano Berio]" !
Badmintonforall I honestly doubt "o King!" was meant to make anybody laugh. Plus the Scherzo, the "Fischpredigt" taken from Mahler's symphony is rather disillusioning. Just like King, you can talk until you're blue in the face and nothing will change. By the way, the title "Sinfonia" may be misleading: It is not a symphony, but to be taken more literally. Sin-fono meaning sounding together, which is exactly what this collage does.
+TheBrawlMaster yes. and this is the beauty of postmodernism... composers take the techniques of micropolyphony, indeterminacy, and earlier, the idea of serialism(modernism)... it is normal to hear echos of earlier composers like Mahler, Schönberg and Beethoven, because one of the speciality of postmodern music (compare to modernism music) is making references to early famous giants' masterpieces.
Por supuesto que es una notable condensacion de lo señalado por algun oyente anterior, pero hay que tener valor no solo para componer sino para conducir e interpretar esta obra hemosa.
Yes you do, and you also hear brief quotes of Debussy's La Mer, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Beethoven's 6th symphony and Ravel's La valse, among others.
Parole sante, non capisco il perché dei voti negativi al suo commento: visto che il delirio imperversa nelle composizioni del "maestro", un bel botto finale sarebbe stato un gesto musicale degno di quei 'connoisseurs' che gli sbavano dietro. Povera musica, davvero!
Perhaps, this version by Berio was very rarely performed. This performance almost obscures the music, and you can't heard what the soloists are trying to sing, say. It's better forgotten forever.
Ok... Is it just me? This piece was written at the peak of the hippy era. I detect a bit of pink floyd here. Especially taped effects & odd voices. It was the times. Makes me want to smoke a big bowl 😆 lol
It's actually a dedication to the conductor performing the piece. It only said "Thank you Mr. Boulez" because Boulez was the conductor of that performance. On this video, Antonio Pappano is conducting, hence why it ends with "Thank you, Mr. Antonio Pappano"
There is also a sentence in the score where the reader has to enter the name of the first piece being performed in the concert, which is why Berio's Eindrücke gets a mention in that recording too (as it's the other piece on the CD) ... it's been twenty years since I last listened to it... but something about 'and tomorrow we'll read that [Berio's Eindrücke] made tulips grow in my garden and altered the flow of the ocean currents'.
On Bernstein's 1969 Columbia recording, the piece mentioned is Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 4, since that was the other work on the program at Sinfonia's 1968 world premiere by the NYPhil--
I listened to this but really did not like it one bit. It was music sadly not for me. Perhaps I am missing something. I usually enjoy classical music. The drone of voices are very annoying also.
Assolutamente. Ma basterebbe esprimere il proprio dissenso con capacità critica come fai tu, invece di vomitare insulti e violenza su un'artista che non c'è più. Avrei reagito cosi anche se ci fosse stato un commento del genere ad una canzone di Vasco, per dirtene una. Comunque sia Berio l'ho scoperto da poco, questo terzo movimento mi ha conquistato del tutto. Si sente una certa influenza di Stravinskij... ma è l'armonia del parlato che mi manda in un altro universo.
An interviewer once asked Gertrude Stein to explain her libretto for "Four Saints in Three Acts". She said she didn't write it to be expained, she wrote it to be enjoyed: if you enjoy it you understand it.
Just remember, Berio knows more than you and is smarter than you. Thus he is more important than you and thus gets to dictate your world to you. AND, as an extra bonus, he is a committed Socialist. What could be more perfect. All music, going forward, MUST be above the listener’s intellectual. Never mind that John Williams fellow.
A parte distrarre e rendere complicato l'ascolto non riesco a trovare un senso originale e interessante nell'uso della voce declassata a effetto sonoro. La parola non si fa canto e non si confronta con elementi musicali. Poi sì è una mixture...
The original Boulez recording with the swingle singers is much better (although the orchestra here is top notch). Watching this makes me wonder if it would be better to get actors on the vocal parts rather than singers... as the spoken parts are pretty lifeless... sounds more like a HR powerpoint presentation than the surreal and vivid sesquipedalian prose of Samuel Beckett.
No, if it was just a gimmick it would have sunk without trace decades ago. Berio's Sinfonia is still delighting audiences more than fifty years after its first performance.
See now if you're a genius at Glenn Gould's level, you can't listen to this (or the Beatles) because of the lack of "middle ground" -- so I guess I'm glad I'm not a genius like Glenn Gould?
-- I wish I hadn't written that. As much as I love Gould, if you miss this (or for that matter the Beatles, for chrissake) you're not living on planet earth. To say nothing of the fact that *Berio fucking wrote this on his vacation in Sicily WITHOUT A MUSIC LIBRARY*
It's a piece made of quotations (and he is not only snipping parts from Mahler)so your comment is meaningless. This is the Scherzo, 3rd movement of the sinfonia.
