Berio:
Voci for viola and orchestra
Naturale for viola, percussion and tape
Sicilian folk music
(recordings from the
Ethnomusicological Archives
of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome)
Kim Kashkashian (viola)
Robyn
Schulkowsky (percussion)
Radio Symphonieorchester Wien
Dennis Russell Davies (conductor)
ECM New Series
From the opening note of Luciano Berio's Voci, we know instantly that we are firmly planted
within the Sicilian folk music tradition in which the composer grew up: a solo
viola enters with a bold gesture, seizing the ear's attention and
precisely mimicking the bends in pitch so common in the island's traditional
singing. This is important structurally as well as aurally, as it
establishes the hierarchy for the piece: the violist is the storyteller and the
orchestra its supportive, impressionistic chorus, by turns illuminating,
underscoring, reacting to and anticipating the viola's narration.
These roles are further emphasized on this ECM disc by the recording set-up, which places the viola center stage and surrounds it with orchestra and percussion that seem to be everywhere yet impossible to pin down. The murky orchestral suggestions stand in stark contrast to the slicing viola part — which is played with lyrical power by Kim Kashkashian, who has the grace to guide the piece through its machinations while maintaining the integrity of the whole.
Naturale employs the same strategy and source material as Voci but with a change in cast. The orchestra is reduced to percussion and there are now two storytellers: the live viola and a Sicilian folk singer on pre-recorded tape. Berio is a fan of Claude Lévi-Strauss' book Le cru et le cuit [The Raw and the Cooked], the basic premise of which is that myths cannot be understood in isolation, but only as parts of an entire myth system. In this case, the live viola is the raw; the taped voice, the cooked — Berio explores the commonalities between the two and closes the gap between the past and the contemporary. When both play at once, the effect is not so much one of dueling raconteurs as of two friends recounting a story together. The viola most often defers to the singer when he is present, and in his absence the instrument takes up the tale to speak for him.
The extraordinary feature of this release is the inclusion of field recordings of Sicilian folk music made in the 1950s and 1960s, the discovery of which inspired Berio's work on this disc. The singers' voices are raw, powerful, authentic (the sounds of children playing can occasionally be heard in the background). The melodies fall audibly into particular modes (albeit with microtones), but they are far from facile.
In particular, the decision to include the songs on which Voci and Naturale are based — a naked display of source material — is commendable: the songs permit the listener to draw latent connections between Berio's work and his folk inspirations.
This is a thought-provoking yet approachable disc, well conceived and well executed, and includes a booklet with fine notes and photos.
This title is
available for purchase at
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Amazon.fr and Amazon.de.
