Berio’s Sequenzas
are probably his best known body of
work and rightly so. They span his entire
creative life, the last one for cello
being premiered not long before his
death and here receiving its first recording.
In fact, Black Box’s neat planning gives
us the first and last as bookends with
a random selection as the other three.
They make a nicely contrasting bunch,
written at varying stages of his career
and forming a decent enough picture
of what this amazing cycle is about.
Some may miss their favourites - mine
happen to be No. III for voice and No.
VII for trombone, with its mix of pyrotechnics
and theatrical buffoonery.
Die-hard Berio fans
will probably have the rest anyway,
courtesy of Boulez’s Ensemble InterContemporain,
a great bargain on three mid-price DG
discs, though it does, of course, stop
at what was in 1995 the last one, No.XIII
for accordion. There is also a smattering
throughout the catalogue of individual
Sequenzas performed by their
dedicatees (such as Cathy Berberian’s
famous and inimitable No. III) or famous
‘star’ soloists, such as Heinz Holliger
in No. VII for oboe. Whatever the case,
Black Box’s selection is very enjoyable
and should make a good entry point for
people new to this repertoire.
There’s no doubting
the quality of the playing on offer
here, either. Berio’s whole point with
these works was to embrace virtuosity,
to exploit the full potential of each
instrument and, where he felt it was
necessary, to invent new ways of pushing
the barriers even further. As the timings
show, these are no mere miniatures –
No. XII for bassoon is nearly 20 minutes
long – and the listener is best prepared
by expecting the unexpected. The technical
ability on display here is awesome,
with the players of the specialist avant-garde
group Ex Novo revelling in Berio’s fiendish
demands. I particularly liked the way
pianist Aldo Orvieto discovers a post-Schoenbergian
expressionism in what is often played
as a dense thicket of multiple tonalities.
The violin solo is also breathtaking
in its scale, justifiable linking it
back to the great Bach Chaconne. The
cello solo, written for the amazing
abilities of Rohan de Saram, shows Berio
characteristically exploiting the folk-like
percusssive potential of the instrument,
with the soloist often striking the
wooden body of the cello to evoke the
Kandayan drum.
Rather than give us
more Sequenzas, the players offer
a further group of contrasting pieces,
from the early serialism of Due Pezzi
to the hauntingly evocative Lied
for clarinet, and they simply underline
the importance and influence of the
Italian master.
The recording quality
has to be good in this music, and it’s
fair to say Black Box’s audio engineering
is state-of-the-art; indeed, if you
close your eyes the players are there
in the room with you, shuffling, breathing
and all. Well worth acquiring if you
don’t know the Sequenzas, though
be prepared to get hooked and end up
wanting the rest.
Tony Haywood
Ex Novo Ensemble (Daniele Ruggieri (flute);
Davide Teodoro (clarinet and basque drum); Carlo
Lazari (violin and viola); Carlo Teodoro (cello);
Aldo Orvieto (piano)) 
