Berio
Berio
Berio
This conception of
performance had become laden with pejorative connotations, associated with hollow
displays of technical prowess in which style triumphed over substance, but Berio
exploded this myth. For him, virtuosity encompassed a virtuosity of knowledge. In
addition to technical mastery, therefore, a highly intelligent and historically aware
approach is demanded of the performer, who is called upon to display scintillating
technique in music that nevertheless consists of clearly delineated and precisely
articulated relationships, of which he or she is expected to show a thorough
understanding.
The eponymous sequences are harmonic fields, established at the outset of most of
the Sequenzas and from which the consequent material is generated. Each Sequenza
also demonstrates Berios thorough understanding of the instruments particular
technical demands and acoustic qualities. Berio railed against the notion of making an
instrument work against itself, insisting that it should be explored within its existing
physical parameters rather than squeezed into a different shape; he eschewed, for
instance, the prepared piano. However, while refusing to tamper with an instruments
nature, in the Sequenzas Berio relished expanding and confounding our expectations
of what that nature is. In particular, with those Sequenzas written for monodic
instruments, Berio desired to cultivate a polyphonic mode of listening. To achieve this
he explored the idea of a single instrument producing more than one voice, toying
with our aural perception of foreground and background (in the audible, nonSchenkerian sense.) In this way a monodic instrument becomes capable of implying
not merely a dialogue, but also the sounding together of more than one voice. The
inspiration for this stemmed from J.S. Bachs polyphonic melodies, but whereas in
Bachs case the implicit polyphony was bound up with the musical language of his
time, and thus more readily discernible to the listener, with the Sequenzas: history
provided no protection, and everything had to be planned out explicitly.
In Sequenza I, oscillations between two pitches (heard as a kind of background
texture) are interrupted by staccato interjections (heard in the foreground). Berio
said that: Its the principle of more or less that governs the flute Sequenza ... Its used
not to produce ambiguous, open and interchangeable structures, but to control the
density of the melody as it proceeds. Berio graded this density in terms of the
maximum, medium and minimum levels of tension of what he described as the flutes
temporal, dynamic, pitch and morphological dimensions the latter referring to the
instruments form or characteristic nature. At any given moment at least two of
these dimensions are at the maximum level of tension. In the case of the
morphological dimension, this is achieved when the conventional perception of the
flute is dramatically altered through the use of techniques such as flutter-tonguing,
double stops or multiphonics (the simultaneous production of two pitches related in
the instruments harmonic series); and key-clicks a percussive device that produces
the pitch of the fingered note without the flautist breathing into the instrument. In the
case of the double stops, Berio said that: their function is more symbolic than
actual: to some extent they stand for my desperate search for polyphony with the most
monodic instrument in history.
The opening bars of Sequenza IV for piano also establish a sense of foreground and
background, albeit in an entirely different way: sustained chords (equivalent to the
flutes oscillations) form a backdrop to the more prominent staccato chords
(functioning similarly to the flutes staccato gestures). This exchange then mutates
into a dialogue between interrelated chordal and linear material. The role of the
sustaining pedal is crucial in Sequenza IV : it is assigned one of the two harmonic
fields developed in the work, with the other developed by the keyboard. These
harmonic fields are unfolded simultaneously and at times interwoven, the relationship
between materials for keyboard and pedal lending the piano a new sense of internal
dialogue, over and above its already manifest polyphonic capabilities.
Berio used this relationship to accentuate one of the pianos particular acoustic
qualities: its spatial dimension. As distinct from its range of available pitches, the
space of the piano concerns the specific attack and resonance of certain pitches
juxtaposed or in combination. This quality is particularly prominent during a passage
towards the end of Sequenza IV, when the initial material is at its most fragmented.
(Rather than employing the precise rhythms that pervade much of the work, Berio
notates these bars using connected grace notes, giving the pianist a certain degree of
rhythmic freedom). Berios use of the sustain pedal during these bars the dialogue
between pedal and keyboard creates a beautiful sonority.
Of all the Sequenzas, it is Sequenza VIII for violin that most explicitly demands
historical awareness on the part of the performer. Berio saw the work as a very
particular homage not only to specific works for the violin, but also to the instrument
itself, which he considered one of the most versatile and significant in history.
Furthermore, in Sequenza VIII Berios desire for a single instrument to create the
effect of polyphony shifts from the metaphorical to the literal; the violin is called
upon to play passages of real, not merely implied, polyphony. The treatment of the
recurrent A-B cell and the layering of longer note values against passages of
fiendishly rapid material draw upon Bachs structural devices, in particular those of
the Chaconne from the D minor Partita, while the phenomenal agility required of the
performer establishes a musical lineage with 19th -century virtuoso works. The A-B
cell returns to end the Sequenza, establishing a satisfying over-arching unity that
frames the intricate and wide-ranging material within.
Several of Berios Sequenzas spawned other works. Sequenza VIII engendered
Corale, while Berios Chemins are commentaries on different Sequenzas, realisations
of their implicit harmonies, with Chemins III being a further elaboration of Chemins
II. Berio was fascinated by the processes of elaboration and transcription, hence the
dual identity of Sequenza IX : Sequenza IX b is a transcription for alto saxophone of
Sequenza IX a for clarinet.
Sequenza IX is, essentially, an intricate melody exploring the relationship between
two pitch fields. One of these is stable, consisting of seven notes usually fixed in
register, while the other is volatile: five notes that traverse the instruments range.
This contrast permeates the score, the first metronome marking of which is crotchet =
60 ma sempre un poco instabile. Later, this unpredictability is heightened with the
marking: Tempo molto instabile. Precisely notated rhythms (dominated by dotted and
double-dotted units and triplets) are interspersed with moments of relative rhythmic
freedom (such as the repetition, over ten seconds, of an arch-shaped figure notated
without stems.) Pitch also veers between the concrete and the indefinite. As well as
using multiphonics, Berio specified different fingerings to denote unconventional