Luciano Berio Archives - Cleveland Classical

Italian violinist Francesco D’Orazio to perform on CMA Series

December 5, 2016 by Mike Telin

by Mike Telin

By the time Italian violinist Francesco D’Orazio decided to learn Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VIII, many violinists were already playing the challenging work. He knew he would need to bring a new approach to the piece if he were to stand any chance of impressing the composer. “So I decided to play it from memory,” D’Orazio said during a telephone conversation from Italy, “and nobody was doing that back then.”

Audiences will have the opportunity to hear the celebrated violinist perform Berio’s Sequenza VIII this week, when he makes his Cleveland debut on Friday, December 9 at 7:30 at Transformer Station as part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Performing Arts Series. The concert will feature contemporary Italian works for solo violin.

D’Orazio’s professional relationship with Berio dates back to when the violinist was studying with Carlo Chiarappa, for whom Sequenza VIII was written. [Read more…]

Review: Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (December 7)

December 11, 2012 by Special to ClevelandClassical.com

by Mike Telin

The Italian experimentalist Luciano Berio is arguably one of the most influential composers of the mid- to late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His group of Sequenzes is a series of thirteen compositions for unaccompanied instruments, including voice, each of which explore and expand on each instruments technical possibilities. On occasion the composer expanded some of the Sequenzes through the addition of instrumental layers. Berio’s Corale (su “Sequenza VIII”) featuring the outstanding violinist and Oberlin faculty member, David Bowlin, served as the centerpiece for the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble concert on Friday, December 7 in Warner Concert Hall.

Although Berio never composed a violin concerto, Corale (1981), is a more than suitable contribution to the canon by the composer. Scored for string orchestra and horns, Berio leaves his haunting Sequenza VIII intact and creates dialogues from within the orchestra that inventively support the solo line melodically, harmonically and rhythmically. Throughout the performance it was clear that David Bowlin has lived with this work for some time. Performing from memory, he made the many complicated technical passages, numerous double stops, and extended soft staccato lines sound effortless. [Read more…]

Pianist Yuja Wang creates magic with The Cleveland Orchestra (Nov. 28)

by Stephanie Manning

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Thanksgiving weekend concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra often center around a big-ticket soloist or a popular piece.

This year’s program offers both, thanks to star pianist Yuja Wang and Maurice Ravel’s brilliant orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

On Friday November 28, the snow cleared just in time for the crowds to arrive at Severance Music Center for the evening event. Led by conductor Petr Popelka, the resulting concert equally displayed the prowess of Orchestra and soloist over the course of three fascinating works.

György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto stood out in contrast to the lush textures and easy-to-follow melodies of the works that surrounded it. Premiered in 1988, its dissonant and avant-garde music might have come from another world. But both Wang and the Orchestra rose to meet the challenge of its devilishly tricky rhythms with an assured confidence.

[Read on…]

Les Arts Florissants make Vivaldi’s Four Seasons feel fresh and inspired (Nov. 18)

by Stephanie Manning

Performing a work as ubiquitous as Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons requires a delicate balance. At its best, the musicality and intention must be crystal clear, so that the end result feels as fresh as it does familiar. It’s a high bar, but one that Les Arts Florissants cleared with the utmost ease.

On November 18, the renowned French baroque ensemble visited Tuesday Musical to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s famous quartet of violin concertos. Soloist Théotime Langlois de Swarte led the spirited group in the Vivaldi-focused program, which also included works by Marco Uccellini and Claudio Monteverdi. [Read on…]

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra with violinist David McCarroll in Rocky River (Nov. 23)

by Daniel Hathaway

Let’s cut to the chase and simply say that it would be difficult to imagine a more perfect and moving performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto than the one David McCarroll gave with Daniel Meyer and BlueWater Chamber Orchestra on Sunday afternoon, November 23 at Rocky River Presbyterian Church. We’ll come back to that thought.

The straight-through performance preceded the Beethoven with works by Cleveland composer Margaret Brouwer and a youngish Aaron Copland.

Brouwer’s engaging and popular The Art of Sailing at Dawn evokes memories of growing up on the Great Lakes. A flute conjures sonic images of gulls, and subtle waves support a lovely oboe solo before the wind kicks up and dark clouds assemble. A storm erupts, but soon passes, leading to a quiet ending. [Read on…]

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