Concert – Folk songs – Festival Messiaen

An essential collection of Berio's work, Folk Songs was composed in 1964 as a "tribute to the art and vocal intelligence of Cathy Berberian," a formidable singer he married in 1950 and with whom he explored all the possibilities of the voice. Rather than the traditional piano, which deeply hindered him when it came to interpreting popular songs, he chose to accompany the voice with an ensemble of seven instruments.
The eleven songs that make up the Folk Songs draw from various sources: the United States, Armenia, France, Sicily, Sardinia, etc., and were chosen by the composer "from old records, printed anthologies, or heard sung by traditional musicians and friends." Two of them, "La donna ideale" and "Ballo," were previously composed by Berio himself to anonymous Genoese and Sicilian texts.
Berio gives these songs a new rhythmic and harmonic interpretation and, in a sense, recomposes them. More than just an accompaniment, the instrumental part has an important function, highlighting and commenting on the expressive and cultural roots of each song.
Trained in Milan and at the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome, as well as at IRCAM, Luca Antignani, born in 1976, has created a sequel to Berio's Folk Songs. "Authentically popular song is a cry, sound, moan, weeping, laughter and howling," he asserts, drawing on tradition while proposing stylistic innovations. The work is being presented in its world premiere at the Messiaen Festival in the Pays de la Meije by the singers of Musicatreize accompanied by the United Berlin ensemble, under the direction of Roland Hayrabedian.

Program :

Luciano Berio,
folk songs
Luca Antignani,
Ark – world premiere, commissioned by Musicatreize

with the support of the National Music Center and Spedidam.