Berio: Sequenzas I-XIV for Solo Instruments (3CD)

From David Osmond-Smith's article on Berio in the online Grove Dictionary: "The 'sequence' of the title is, broadly, that of harmonic fields: fixed pitch resources that are each explored for their melodic and harmonic potential in turn. The ways in which this conception is realized vary widely from one Sequenza to the next. They serve a virtuosity that, as Berio often emphasised, is not merely that of flying finger or agile tongue. The composer also required a virtuosity of 'sensibility and intelligence' that often entails a thoroughgoing understanding of the history of the instrument: most explicitly in Sequenza VIII for violin (1976-7), but also, for instance, in the characterization of registers in Sequenza XII for bassoon (1995). Indeed, the piece may become an essay in the instrument's social history, as in Sequenza XIII for accordion (1995-6), which creates an amalgam of echoes from tango, work-song, cabaret and other forms of popular entertainment. In certain cases, where history has consigned to an instrument an excessively constricted range of characteristics, Berio may write à rebours. Both Sequenza II for harp (1963) and Sequenza VI for viola (1967) invest their instruments with an unwonted ferocity." Berio wrote fourteen Sequenzas, but two of them have alternate versions (VIIa for oboe and VIIb for soprano saxophone; IXa for clarinet [given a really luscious performance here by Joaquin Valdepenas] and IXb for alto saxophone); hence sixteen tracks. (They are not played in the order in which they were written.) Most of the musicians are Canadian and all the recordings were made in the same venue, St. John Chysostom Church, Newmarket, Ontario, over a period from November 1999 to May 2004. The sonics are excellent with enough room ambience to give a 'real' sound to the recordings. Some highlights: The incredible vocal (dare I call it singing?) rendition by Tony Arnold of Sequenza III; the fiercely hypnotic viola of Steven Dann in VI; the unearthly, often microtonal, bassoon (how does he make it sound like an air raid siren?) of Ken Munday in XII. But then there is not a weak performance here. I wish I could comment more about the music itself but my music-analytical arsenal simply doesn't allow me to do much more than describe it in the most general, and mostly non-technical, terms. This is the only recorded set of Sequenzas that includes Berio's last one, Sequenza XIV for cello, written in 2002 not long before he died. And of course the set's budget price makes it all the more attractive.