Altra Voce (1999-2001) by Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Altra voce, for alto flute, mezzosoprano, and live electronics (1999-2001)
Text author: Talia Pecker Berio
The final score of Altra Voce (including the electronic part) has been completed by Tempo Reale, curated by Francesco Giomi, Damiano Meacci, and Kilian Schwoon. The score is available at Universal Edition. (Those interested in the performance of electronics with Tempo Reale can contact here.)
Altra voce is a composition developed by Luciano Berio starting from the “Il campo” episode of Cronaca del Luogo, his final musical theatre work, staged at the Salzburg Festival of 1999. While Cronaca del Luogo’s orchestra and speakers are located on various height levels behind the stage, building something of a “wall of sound”, in Altra Voce this same idea of wall is transposed into a configuration with two diverging diagonals of speakers that, adapting to the performance space, are placed at the widest possible distance. Electronics play an important structural part, and are characterised by three types of processing: live sampling, spatialisation, and the use of the harmonizer.
From Luciano Berio, Interview with G. Moore and S. MacLennan, London Sinfonietta, 2003:
«The composition develops an interesting polyphony of sounds that move and fill the performance space. While listening to the voice or the flute, one may simultaneously hear the sound transformations that are taking place. The separation between melody and polyphony is deleted, one becomes the other and both breathe together»
Tempo Reale’s musicians are curating the planning of the electroacoustic part, adapting it to the space, and are performing the piece while checking the processing parameters live.
History of performances with Monica Bacelli (mezzosoprano) and Michele Marasco (alto flute):
– New York, Carnegie Hall Concerts, March 2001
– Tokyo, Kioi Hall, October 2002
– Rome, Sala Petrassi/Auditorium di Roma, 10 March 2003
– Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 8 November 2006
– Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus, 25 November 2006
– Stuttgart, Hochschule fur Musik, 22 June 2007
– Florence, Teatro della Pergola, 27 October 2008
– Paris, Salle Olivier Messiaen, 28 June 2009
– Bologna, Teatro Comunale, 2 December 2009
– Paris, Salle Pleyel, 7 December 2009
– Venice, La Biennale/Sezione Musica, 11 October 2013
– Florence, Tempo Reale Festival, 12 October 2013
History of other performances:
– Warsaw, Akademia Muzyczna im. Fryderyka Chopina, 20 September 2008 (Françoise Kluber, mezzosoprano – Mario Caroli, flute)
– Vienna, Wiener Konzerthaus, 16 December 2010 (Alda Caiello, mezzosoprano – Mario Caroli, flute)
– Reims, Opéra de Reims, 13 February 2011 (Isabel Soccoja, mezzosoprano – Nicolas Vallette, flute)
– Città di Castello, Festival delle Nazioni, 31 August 2013 (Monica Benvenuti, mezzosoprano – Michele Marasco, flute)
– Bologna, Conservatorio di Musica/Martini Elettrico, 6 April 2016 (Elisa Bonazzi, mezzosoprano – Giulia Biffi, flute)
– Gent, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, 19 November 2021 (Lore Binon, mezzosoprano – Tille Van Gastel, G flute)
Photo © Marco Brescia
