Composer Notes

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History, analysis and commentary about western classical music

Berio - Sinfonia - Third movement - Page 4

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Berio bar 188-207 / Mahler bar 190-209
  • Tenor 1: It isn't earth, one doesn't know what it is ... maybe a kind of competition on the stage with just eight female dancers (a reference to Stravinsky Agon) and words falling ... you don't know where ... where now ... who now? But now I shall say my old lesson, if I can remember it. I must not forget this. I have not forgotten it. But I must have said this before since I say it now
Berio bar 189-200 / Mahler bar 191-202
  • Alto 1: But you all know ... that they will surely bring me to the surface one day or another ... and there will be a brief dialogue in the dunes ... under the sun
Berio bar 210-213 / Mahler bar (212-215)
  • Cluster in full orchestra. At this point the first of the Mahler brass fanfares should occur. The unison A upbeat in the brass (bar 209/211) suggests this is the case but is replaced with the full orchestral cluster. It is reminiscent of the Mahler 'cry of terror' (which occurs at Mahler bar 465). It is Berio's music
  • Stravinsky Agon in timpani
Berio bar 214 / Mahler bar 216
  • Mahler in strings
Berio bar 216 / Mahler bar 218
  • Mahler in horns
Berio bar 229 / Mahler bar (231)
  • Repetition of the brass upbeat from Mahler (bar 209/211) (This repetition is not in Mahler)
Berio bar 230-231 / Mahler bar (232-233)
  • Another full orchestal cluster
Berio bar 231-232 / Mahler bar 233-234
  • Mahler in strings
Berio bar 233-254 / Mahler bar 235-256
  • Fragments of Mahler and Stravinsky Agon intermingle
  • Stravinsky Agon in castanets
Berio bar 233-237 / Mahler bar 235-239
  • Mahler in flutes and Alto 1 and 2
Berio bar 234-242 / Mahler bar 236-244
  • Mahler in Bass 1 and 2
Berio bar 234-237 / Mahler bar 236-239
  • Stravinsky Agon in timpani
Berio bar 234-254 / Mahler bar 236-256
  • Tenor 1: I am listening. Well I prefer that, I must say I prefer that, oh you know, oh you, oh I suppose the audience, well, well, so there is an audience. It's a public show, you buy your seat and you wait, perhaps it's free, a free show, you take your seat and your wait for it to begin, or perhaps it's compulsory, a compulsory show ...
  • Strings alternate fragments of Mahler and Stravinsky Agon
Berio bar 238 / Mahler bar 240
  • Alto 2: that what who you
Berio bar 239-254 / Mahler bar 241-256
  • Woodwinds alternate fragments of Mahler and Stravinsky Agon
Berio bar 240-241 / Mahler bar 242-243
  • Mahler in Alto 1 and 2
Berio bar 244-254 / Mahler bar 246-256
  • Distorted version of Mahler in keyboards
Berio bar 249-251 / Mahler bar 251-253
  • Oboe and trumpet misquote excerpt from Stravinsky Agon
Berio bar 252-254 / Mahler bar 254-256
  • Mahler in clarinets
Berio bar 255-266 / Mahler bar (257-268)
  • This is where the second of the Mahler fanfares should occur, implied by the upbeat unison B (bar 254/256) in the brass. As before it is replaced with a cluster for full orchestra
  • Stravinsky Agon in timpani
Berio bar 255 / Mahler bar 257
  • A hint of Mahler in upper strings
Berio bar 257 / Mahler bar 259
  • Mahler in bassoons and lower strings
Berio bar 263 / Mahler bar 265
  • Mahler in strings
Berio bar 266-269 / Mahler bar 268-271
  • Cluster gradually subsides
  • Distorted version of Mahler in flutes
  • Rhythmic figure in woodwinds whose source is yet to be identified
Berio bar 269 / Mahler bar 271
  • Mahler in timpani (playing what should have occurred at bar 265/267)
Berio bar 269 / Mahler bar 271
  • Tenor 1: you wait for the compulsory show to begin, it takes time, you hear a voice, perhaps it is a recitation, that is the show, someone reciting, selected passages, old favourites, or someone improvising, you can barely hear him, that's the show, you can't leave, you are afraid to leave, you make the best of it you try and and be reasonable, you came too early, here we'd need latin, it's only beginning it hasn't begun, he'll appear any moment, he'll begin any moment
Berio bar 270-276 / Mahler bar 272-278
  • Mahler in saxophone
Berio bar 270-288 / Mahler bar 272-290
  • Mahler in trumpets
Berio bar 270-293 / Mahler bar 272-295
  • Mahler in harp
Berio bar 273-288 / Mahler bar 275-290
  • Fragments of Mahler distributed in varying parts of the strings
Berio bar 277-288 / Mahler bar 279-290
  • Mahler in sopranos and altos
Berio bar 282-288 / Mahler bar 284-290
Ravel La Valse in flutes
Berio bar 285-294 / Mahler bar 287-296
  • Stravinsky Agon in tambourine displaced by two eighth notes
Berio bar 286-288 / Mahler bar 288-290
  • Chromatic scales in clarinet, saxophone, bassoon and strings
Berio bar 287-288 / Mahler bar 289-290
  • Mahler in bass voices
Berio bar 289-294 / Mahler bar 291-296
  • Distorted Mahler in violins
  • Chromatic scales in cellos
Berio bar 289-291 / Mahler bar 291-293
  • Strauss Der Rosenkavalier in saxophones
  • Mahler in voices in solfege
  • Mahler in timpani (playing double bass part)
Berio bar 291-294 / Mahler bar 293-296
  • Strauss Der Rosenkavalier in clarinets and violas
  • Alto 1: He is only preluding, clearing his throat, alone in his dressing room, or it's the stage-manager giving his instructions, his last recommendations before the curtain rises
Berio bar 295-307
  • Strauss Der Rosenkavalier in full orchestra
  • Mahler is omitted altogether for this section and returns in bar 307
Berio bar 298
  • 5 voices: that is the show
Berio bar 299-316
  • Tenor 1: that's the show, waiting for the show, to the sound of a murmur, you try and be reasonable, perhaps it is not a voice at all, perhaps it's the air, ascending, descending, flowing, eddying, seeking exit, finding none, and the spectators, where are they, you didn't notice, in the anguish of waiting, never noticed you were waiting alone, that is the show, for the fools, in the palace
Berio bar 307-312 / Mahler bar 308-313
  • Mahler in soprano 1
  • When Mahler returns its continuity has been interrupted by one bar
Berio bar 308-310 / Mahler bar 309-311
  • Mahler in alto 1
Berio bar 308-314 / Mahler bar 309-315
  • Mahler in trumpet 2
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