Luciano Berio
Sinfonia / Visage
CBS (UK) 1969
61078 (LP) Original pressing. one side coated sleeve.
sleeve : EX-(some slightly dirts.)
media : EX/EX(some slightly noise.)
Released in 1969 as part of the long-running Music of Our Time series—renowned for issuing numerous landmark recordings by figures such as Terry Riley, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Alvin Lucier throughout the 1960s and ’70s—this album features two works by the Italian contemporary composer Luciano Berio. Berio made his debut as a composer in the 1940s with works influenced by Bartók and Stravinsky, later embracing total serialism, exploring electronic music in the 1950s, and producing a wide range of solo and vocal compositions during the 1960s. The A-side presents “Sinfonia,” a five-movement orchestral work with eight amplified vocalists, commissioned to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic; the recording included here documents the premiere performance. On the B-side is “Visage,” a 1961 musique concrète work constructed as a magnetic tape collage, built from the voice of Berio’s wife Cathy Berberian combined with electronic sounds.