Luciano Berio

The series runs from Sequenza I for flute through to XIV for cello, each a tight arena for what an instrument can do when technique is stretched past the polite. Chemins grow those solos outward into ensembles. Sinfonia layers orchestra with speaking and whispering voices and a thick web of quotation. Electronic pieces such as Thema and Visage cut and reshape the human voice into emotional language without words. Berio also worked with a transcriber's ear on other composers: Brahms chamber music opened into orchestral form, Schubert sketches completed, folk songs reset for distinctive voices. On these recordings Sequenza II and IX sit among the twentieth-century tests that harpists and clarinettists measure themselves against, while his Brahms orchestration gives the viola a concerto weight it rarely finds.