History, analysis and commentary about western classical music
Berio - Sinfonia - Third movement - Page 2
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Berio bar numbers
Mahler bar numbers
Commentary
48
50
Berio bar 25 / Mahler bar 27
49
51
Berio bar 49-50 / Mahler bar 51-52
- Tenor 2: why?
- Bass 1: something is going to happen
50
52
Berio bar 50 / Mahler bar 52
- Soprano 1: (continuing from Soprano 2 in bar 46) ... he emerges as from heavy hangings. Hardly a resurrection (a reference to the title of the Mahler)
51-54
53-56
Berio bar 51-54 / Mahler bar 53-56
- Alto 1: I am not deaf, of that I am convinced, that is to say half-convinced
- Bass 1: So after a period of immaculate silence there seemed to be a violin concerto being played in the other room in three quarters
- Mahler continues in piccolo clarinet
52-57
54-59
Berio bar 52-57 / Mahler bar 54-59
- Tenor 1: With not even a small mountain on the horizon, a man would wonder where his Kingdom ended
- Tenor 2: Keep going
- Bass 2: Where now?
- Violin solo from Berg Violin Concerto
54
56
Berio bar 54 / Mahler bar 56
- 4 singers join Mahler in solfege
55-58
57-60
Berio bar 55-58 / Mahler bar 57-60
- Mahler continues in clarinets
57
59
Berio bar 57 / Mahler bar 59
- 6 singers join Berg Violin Concerto in solfege
58-61
60-63
Berio bar 58-61 / Mahler bar 60-63
- Violin solo from Brahms Violin Concerto
- Mahler continues in flutes and strings
59
61
Berio bar 59 / Mahler bar 61
- Alto 2: two violin concertos
60
62
Berio bar 60 / Mahler bar 62
- Soprano 2: in three eighths (correcting Bass 1 from bar 51)
- Alto 1: where?
- Tenor 1: Keep going
61
63
Berio bar 61 / Mahler bar 63
62
64
Berio bar 62 / Mahler bar 64
- Voices join Mahler in solfege
62-65
64-67
Berio bar 62-65 / Mahler bar 64-67
- Bassoons play fragment from Ravel La Valse
- Mahler continues in strings
64
66
Berio bar 64 / Mahler bar 66
- Tenor 1: a danced poem, all round, an endless chain, taking turns to talk
66
68
Berio bar 66 / Mahler bar 68
- Piccolo and clarinet join strings in Mahler
68
70
Berio bar 68 / Mahler bar 70
- Sopranos and Altos join Mahler in solfege
69-73
71-75
Berio bar 69-73 / Mahler bar 71-75
- Tremolo cluster in flutes
70-74
72-76
Berio bar 70-74 / Mahler bar 72-76
- Voices join strings to sing Mahler
72
74
Berio bar 72 / Mahler bar 74
- Trumpets join flutes in cluster
74-78
76-80
Berio bar 74-78 / Mahler bar 76-80
- Mahler in oboes and clarinets Ex.2a is followed by the same rhythm in Berio's music Ex.2b and then extended in the snare drum Ex.2c. This rhythm occurs throughout the Mahler and in quoted works including Ravel La Valse and Beethoven Symphony No 9
- Mahler is distorted by octave displacement in strings
Sinfonia Example 2
77-80
79-82
Berio bar 77-80 / Mahler bar 79-82
- Soprano 2: Keep going
- Tenor 1: This represents at least a thousand words I was not counting on
- Flutes play fragment from Ravel La Valse
80
82
Berio bar 80 / Mahler bar 82
- Soprano 1 sings fragment from Ravel La Valse
- Alto 1: three thousand words
82
84
Berio bar 82 / Mahler bar 84
- Clarinets and bassoons join Mahler
- Bass 1 sings fragment whose source is yet to be identified
83
85
Berio bar 83 / Mahler bar 85
- Tenor 1: I may well be glad of them
84-86
86-88
Berio bar 84-86 / Mahler bar 86-88
- Flutes and violins play fragment from Ravel La Valse
- Lower strings join Mahler
87-91
89-93
Berio bar 87-91 / Mahler bar 89-93
- Flutes play fragment from Ravel Daphnis et Chloe
- Soprano 2: Keep going
88-90
90-92
Berio bar 88-90 / Mahler bar 90-92
- Tenor 1: But seeing Daphnis et Chloe written in red, counting the seconds while nothing has happened but the obsession with ...
- Violins join Mahler
90-93
92-95
Berio bar 90-93 / Mahler bar 92-95
- Piccolo clarinet plays Mahler
91-93
93-95
Berio bar 91-93 / Mahler bar 93-95
- Piano and strings play repeated staccato chords whose source is yet to be identified
94-100
96-102
Berio bar 94-95 / Mahler bar 96-97
- Clarinets and lower strings play Mahler
96-100
98-102
Berio bar 96-100 / Mahler bar 98-102
- Alto 1: ... with the chromatic (completing the sentence started by Tenor 1 in bar 88)
- Bass 1: go on
- Upper strings join clarinets and lower strings in Mahler
97-100
99-102
Berio bar 97-100 / Mahler bar 99-102
- Soprano 2: and the chromatic again
- Tenor 2: where now?
- Bassoons, horns and trombones join clarinets and strings in Mahler
98-105
100-107
Berio bar 98-105 / Mahler bar 100-107
- Violin solo plays fragment from Debussy La Mer
- Tenor 1: I am in the air, the walls, everything yields, opens, ebbs, flows, like the play of waves (a reference to Debussy La Mer)
99-101
101-103
Berio bar 99-101 / Mahler bar 101-103
- Violins and violas join Debussy La Mer
102
(104)
Berio bar 102 / Mahler bar (104)
- Soprano 1 sings Mahler on wrong notes
102-103
(104-105)
Berio bar 102-103 / Mahler bar (104-105)
- Horns play fragment from Debussy La Mer
104
(106)
Berio bar 104 / Mahler bar (106)
- Bass 1 sings Mahler on wrong notes
104-107
(106-109)
Berio bar 104-107 / Mahler bar (106-109)
- Clarinets play fragment from Debussy La Mer
106
108
Berio bar 106 / Mahler bar 108
- Bass 2: Yes, I feel the moment has come for us to look back, if we can, and take our bearings, if we are to go on
107
109
Berio bar 107 / Mahler bar 109
- Alto 1 sings Mahler fragment
107-111
109-113
Berio bar 107-111 / Mahler bar 109-113
- Flute and Oboe play fragment from Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
107-113
109-115
Berio bar 107-113 / Mahler bar 109-115
- Mahler in bassoons, violas and cellos
