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Berio, Luciano, Duetti per due violini, Vol. 1; Encore, for
orchestra: score; Sequenza X, fortrumpet. (Universal, Milan, 1982,
1981, 1984, ?6.50, ?9.45, ?8.45.)Berio s Sequenza series has now
reached double figures, with only cello, horn andbassoon of the
principal orchestral instruments unprovided for. Sequenza X is
scarcely arevelation, either in terms of the series or of the
subject instrument, but it is acharacteristically mordant,
resourceful display-piece, snatching continuity from the jaws
offragmentation. In a ten-minute single span the trumpet stutters
and sings its way through atext that is unashamedly thematic in its
use of pitches, intervals and rhythmic groupings.Berio, as always,
skilfully avoids the arbitrary in a sequence of events that treats
both F andD as pivotal, and in which a wide range of musical
figures creates the sense of developingvariation of thematic
material more textural or gestural than motivic. At fairly
frequentpoints the trumpeter is directed to play towards the inside
of a perfectly tuned grand pianowith the lid fully open . The
pianist has a silent role, depressing the keys for chordsnotated in
the score and sustained either with fingers or pedal. Berio also
asks that thepiano be slightly amplified. The range of the trumpet
s own colours is enhanced by varietiesof tonguing, the use of valve
tremolo and by placing the hand over the bell. Mutes are
notrequired.The febrile lyricism of Sequenza X, powerfully
dramatic, spontaneously expressive, isvery much Berio s own. His
creative confidence, not least in his willingness to use
repetitionin ways which have nothing minimalist about them, is
heartening, and is also richly evidentin the set of 34 violin
duets, written between November 1979 and March 1983 andintended,
the preface notes, for school violin teaching . Violin students
should indeed seizeon these short pieces, for they are often
delightfully straightforward, yet strong in character.Each is given
the name of someone known to or admired by Berio. Bartok,
Boulez,Stravinsky, Maderna, Pousseur are all here, though not
Stockhausen or Nono, and it isnaturally tempting to see an element
of musical or even personal portraiture. Stravinsky(one of the
pieces Berio feels can be played by beginners) is almost starkly
simple in itswhite-note, folk-like style, whereas Boulez is ornate,
refined, requiring subtlety andneedle-sharp precision. Berio s
ability to transform very basic melodic formulae into
pointed and personal statements without self-consciousness is
remarkable. Most of thepieces would undoubtedly benefit from a
security of technique and maturity of approachthat only fairly
advanced students could aspire to. But that is scarcely a serious
limitationand they must be among the very best educational pieces
by a major composer to bepublished since Bartok s time.Encore is a
three-minute jeu d esprit, an extract from Act II of the opera La
vera storia(1978) that served to fulfil a commission from the
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in1981. The orchestra was
celebrating its 60th anniversary, and Encore, a
miniaturedisplay-piece, sustains its good-humoured ebullience from
start to finish. It shouldcertainly end a concert rather than act
as a curtain raiser?especially a concert where theaudience deserves
the reward, after heavy and demanding contemporary items, of
beingreminded that modern music can be light-hearted without
casting off all avant-gardeattributes. Arnold Whittall
Birtwistle, Harrison, Clarinet Quintet;Pulse Sampler, for oboe
and claves; Duetsfor Storab, fortwo flutes. (Universal, London,
1985, 1981, 1983, ?6, ?8.15, ?3.25.)Harrison Birtwistle s Clarinet
Quintet, a 22-minute work in one movement, was writtenin 1980: the
first composition with so neutral a title in a work-list reaching
back to 1957.Birtwistle has used the terms movement and cantata but
never sonata or symphony ,and the Clarinet Quintet was his first
evocation of so potentially classical a form.Nevertheless, the
title does not portend the composer s sudden conversion to
neo-Classicism, and the music s initial gesture?the familiar
E-centred cluster?is enough toindicate that this is a work of
consolidation, perhaps even another by-product of the labour
447
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