Berio - Sinfonia

This is the piece I mentioned in class as a prime example of temporal/rhythmic dissonance. There is harmonic dissonance also, to be sure, but I think the real key to this piece is the fact that each of the individual excerpts is played with the same tempo and style as one would hear in a performance of just that piece. An example of 20th Century musical "scrapbooking," if you will.

When I listen to this piece, it reminds me of a "time travel" effect seen in movies, where excerpts of memories float by the main character. Perhaps this is the effect that Berio was going for; after all, the quotations span from a Bach chorale to graffiti on Parisian walls with everything from Wozzeck to James Joyce in between. The YouTube clip attached seems to be trying to do just that... so, apologies for the 80s-tastic "cinematography."

This is the third movement, "In ruhig fliessender bewegung" from Sinfonia (1968). This title comes from Mahler's Resurrection Symphony -- the only quotation that spans the entire movement. The instrumental quotations Berio uses are listed below (thank you, Wikipedia):

• Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, fourth movement (violent opening scale played by the brass)
• A brief quotation of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 (Mahler) just before.....
• Mahler's Resurrection Symphony, third movement (the only quotation that is ongoing)
• Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, flute solo from the Pantomime
• Berlioz's idée fixe from the Symphonie Fantastique (played by the clarinets)
• Ravel's La Valse (orchestra plays octave motif with piccolo playing a chromatic scale)
• Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (the "Dance of the Earth" sequence at the end of the first tableux)
• Stravinsky's Agon (upper oboe part from the "Double pas de quatre")
• Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier (one of the waltzes composed for the opera)
• a chorale by Johann Sebastian Bach
• Alban Berg's Wozzeck (the drowning scene late in the third act)
• Beethoven's Pastorale Symphony, second movement (melody stated with the clarinets)
• (Schoenberg segment quoted again)
• Debussy's La Mer, second movement "Jeux de vagues"
• Boulez's Pli Selon Pli, very first chord of the entire piece from the first movement ("Don")
• Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen for three orchestras (during the introductions of the vocalists near the end)

Enjoy!