Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 8

Berio's 'Visage' and the Theatre of Electroacoustic Music

Author(s): Richard Causton


Source: Tempo, New Series, No. 194, Italian Issue (Oct., 1995), pp. 15-21
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/944606
Accessed: 03/04/2009 14:39

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Tempo.

http://www.jstor.org
Richard
Causton
Berio's 'Visage' and the Theatre of
Electroacoustic Music

As a setting for the enactment of important or kunstwerk,acts rather to overwhelm and subdue
dramaticevents, theatremay be locatedanywhere. the creative imagination of the listener/watcher
The construction of special auditoria to accom- than to stimulate or provoke it; everything
modate aspects of theatre as an art form of requiredfor the complete opera-houseexperience
re-presentation and re-enactment in no way is present before the eyes and ears, and any sense
invalidates the concept of a theatrical drama of incompleteness felt during the course of the
which unfolds in the imaginationor in the arena work on account of the dramatictensions of the
of everyday life. Music, like theatre, may be plot is resolved (in its own terms)by the time the
inspired by real-life situations, but whereas in opera has finished.
modern Western civilizationit has taken on a life If we view the Gesamtkunstwerk as one extreme
of its own, and is played in the rarefied isolation of the spectrum of possibilities, a step towards
of concert halls, theatre, being a more concrete greater engagement of the listener's imagination
form of representationalart, has retained much in creative activity is representedby the kind of
closer links with the outside world. programmatic composition in which a purely
However, it seems certain that, at some point musical discourse is accompanied by notes
in the past, music existed solely as a facet of explaining the situation(s)being depicted. Here
another life-situation or action, as is still the case the visual aspects of the dramaare forced to take
in some other cultures. In many tribal societies, shape within the minds of the audience, condi-
for example, people sing songs accompanied by tioned by the written programme, the musical
instruments, but do not have a conception of experience, and the personalityof the listener. In
music as such, since the songs are merely an abstractinstrumentalmusic, on the other hand,
integrated and indivisible part of the act of no such extra-musical model is cited (except
hunting or of various secular or sacred rites. Of perhapssummarilyin the title of the work), and
course the use of music as an element of ritual is so the audience, in an attempt to place it safely
by no means absent from Western cultures; but within one of the pre-defined categories of life
whereas in the past the ceremony has generally situation, identifies it as part of the 'concert'
given rise to the music (as in the case of liturgy), ritual, with its performers and audience, and
since the Enlightenment this situation has co- establishedorder of procedure. The very sounds
existed with its reverse: the phenomenon of the of the instrumentsthemselves become a part of
public concert, in which the music (which is the this process of identification,since they can never
raisond'e'treof the whole occasion) engenders the entirely be dissociated from their historical and
ritual.This very concept of music as an independ- culturalcontexts (e.g. the organas an ecclesiastical
ent artform, togetherwith the abilityto preserveit instrument,the use of the horn in hunting, etc.).
in the form of notation, has enabled it to become This scheme of things effectively encompassed
removed from its original context and from the the whole range of musical activity in the
stimuli which brought about its creation. Westernworld until the advent, in the late 1940s,
In parallel with this distancing of music from of the electroacoustic tape piece. For the first
everydaylife has been the development of opera, time, it became possible for composers to
in which a drama is enacted and sung by exercise direct control over every parameterof
charactersfor whom, once more, the frontiers musical sound, and to fix their pieces in a
between the experiences of life and music have definitive form on tape. This presented two
ceased to exist. In Wagner, this concept comes to problems: firstly, it defied recognition as part of
embrace the idea of the creation of a whole the 'concert' ritual, because one of the two basic
world, which functions as the setting for a story prerequisites for that definition (audience and
which tells 'all there is to tell'. However, the performer) was missing. Secondly, it was often
potent combinationof language, music, visual art impossible for the audience to identify the sound
and action, unfolding through time as a Gesamt- sources, and thence to trace them to a cultural
16 Music
Berio's'Visage'and the Theatreof Electroacoustic

frameof reference. Partof the reasonfor this was abstractedfrom their sonic or referentialqualities,
that many of the sounds had their origins in or abstract(i.e. organized according to precepts
electrically powered frequency oscillators as unconnectedto any propertiesof the sound itself:
opposed to naturally resonating bodies (as had for example, serially). However, as Emmerson
been the case in all previous music); but even hints, any easy categorization of a sonic event
naturally produced sounds were often changed as 'mimetic' or 'non-mimetic' belie the true
beyond all recognition. This branch of electro- complexity of the situation,since humansidenti-
acoustic composition represented, potentially, fy sounds by any one of several parameters,and
the most abstract possible form of musical the amplitude or frequency envelope of a sound
activity, and could be seen as an opposite may tell the listener as much or more about its
counterpart to the kind of traditional opera source than the timbre itself.2 For example, a
discussed above. synthetic sound which gets louder and rises in
Paradoxically, however, the very flexibility pitch is perhapsas likely to be associatedwith an
which made this possible also allowed for the approachingcar as an actual recording of a car
inclusion in compositions of tape recorded engine. All sound is a resultof movementthrough
sounds from real life, allowing the composer 'an space with respect to time, but depending on the
acoustic palette as wide as that of the environ- temporal dimensions under consideration we
ment itself (Emmerson:18). Combined with the may focus upon the impulse created by a single
use of more abstract sound, this facility movement of a piston (timbre), the continuous
engendered a plethora of possibilities, one of sound created by the periodic movement of the
them being a kind of symbolic fusion (curiously piston to and fro (pitch), or the morphology of
analogous to the position of opera) between the whole sonic entity as the car approachesand
abstract musical ideas and the life situation in then recedes into the distance.
which they have their roots. Denis Smalley's paper Spectro-Morphology and
In accordance with Luciano Berio's assertion StructuringProcesses(reprinted in Emmerson,
that the significanceof electroacousticmusic 'lies pp.61-93) offers a sophisticated approachto the
not in the discovery of "new" sounds, but in the ordering of electroacoustic sound types, and
possibility it gives the composer of integrating discusses this dichotomy in terms of textureand
a larger domain of sound phenomena into a gesture.Texturedescribes the internal life of a
musical thought' (Appleton and Perera:131), sound as a staticobject, whilstgestureis concerned
attention in recent years has moved away from with its 'energy profile' or dynamic patterning.
the original question of concretevs. electronic Although Smalley recognizes the close links
sound sources, to focus increasinglyon problems betweengestureand causality('If we do not know
of language and syntax. Various attempts at a what caused the gesture, at least we can surmize
classificationof electroacousticworks according from its energetic profile that it could have been
to newly-defined genres have been made. Simon caused, and its spectro-morphologywill provide
Emmerson (1986:17-25) distinguishes aural evidence of the nature of such a cause' [82], his
discourse from mimeticdiscourse, and abstract general outlook remains obstinately tied to the
syntax from abstractedsyntax, constructing a Schaefferianconcept of sounds as objects which
'language grid' consisting of nine subdivisions1 can be regarded as purely aural phenomena
into which compositionsmaybe placed.According devoid of any extramusicalconnotations. Whilst
to his analysis, 'mimesis' denotes 'imitation not acknowledging that tape-recorded sounds, like
only of nature but also of aspects of human words, may be exploited for their sonic or
culture not usually associated directly with symbolic properties, Smalley insists that the
musical material' (Emmerson:17), whilst aural listener can (and should) acquire the ability to
discourse refers to what is traditionallythought reject any notion of the source of a sound (a
of as 'abstract musical substance'. Sounds may dissociative process referred to as 'reduced
then be ordered according to a syntax which is listening'). An obvious means of achieving this
would be throughrepeatedhearingsof the sound
' The subdivisions are as follows: (1) Aural discourse:
object until the listener reached a state of
AbstractSyntax; (2) Auraldiscourse:Combination of abstract
semantic satiation, the sound having yielded its
and abstracted syntax; (3) Aural discourse: Abstracted
syntax; (4) Combination of aural and mimetic discourse: meaningful content on its first appearance.
Abstract syntax; (5) Combination of aural and mimetic However, the extent to which this is possible
discourse: Combination of abstract and abstracted syntax; clearlydependson the natureof the sound:whilst
(6) Combination of aural and mimetic discourse: Abstracted
syntax; (7) Mimetic discourse: Abstract syntax; (8) Mimetic
2 This
discourse: Combination of abstract and abstracted syntax; explains one of the means by which mimesis may be
(9) Mimetic discourse: Abstracted syntax. achieved in purely acoustic music.
Music 17
Berio's'Visage'and the Theatreof Electroacoustic

a recording of a mountain stream may be human nervous system - the situation becomes
appreciated for its purely sonic qualities infinitely more complex.
relatively quickly, 'with music for voice ... it is
* * *
doubtful whether we can ever banish from our
apprehension of the sound the recognition of a Berio, in his own words, has 'alwaysbeen very
humansource'(TrevorWishart,in Emmerson:42). sensitive ... to the excess of connotations that
To take a graphic example, the sound of a cry of the voice carries,whatever it is doing. From the
pain will retain its associations through many grossest of noises to the most delicate of singing,
repetitions.This type of associationmay not be a the voice always means something, always refers
function of any voluntary mental process, so beyond itself and creates a huge range of
much as an innate reflex response geared to self associations:cultural, musical, emotive, physio-
preservation,thus bypassingthe faculty by which logical, or drawn from everyday life' (Berio:94),
we make qualitative aesthetic judgements, and and he has described the extraordinaryflexible
apparentlyworkingdirectlyon our nervoussystem. voice of Cathy Berberian as 'almost a second
Notwithstanding the relatively recent advent "studiodifonologia"'(94). Possiblyhis most famous
of the loudspeaker, the nature of all sonic electroacoustic composition, and a recognized
phenomena has been, throughout history, a landmarkin the genre, is Visage(1960-61), a tape
reliable indicator of the nature of their causative piece consisting of unprocessed vocal sounds
physicalevents (conditionedby naturalacoustics). combined with sounds of electronic origin. This
Given this fact, together with the overriding was the co-creation of Berio and Berberian.
human need to found meaningful relationships Working in the studio of the RAI in Milan, they
between objects and contextualize them into an improvised a greatly expanded vocal repertory,
establishedworld view (even if this requires the creatinga reservoirof materialssuitablefor use in
constructionof myths),we are forced to conclude the piece. These included cries, a whole gamut of
that the experience of electroacoustic music different laughs, singing, a low clicking sound,
unavoidably engenders in us mental images isolated phonemes and syllables, and passagesof
which have their roots in other partsof life. If we nonsense language based on the phonology of
are to refute the assertionthat all electroacoustic English, Hebrew, and the Neapolitan dialect.
musicis inherentlytheatricalwe mustnevertheless The entire thrust of Visageis theatricalin the
concede that the tendency to invoke elements of widest sense. As soon as the sound of the close-
theatre in order to 'complete' the experience of miked voice appears, a few seconds into the
electroacoustic music is a part of our humanity: piece, the listener is catapultedinto the realms of
the theatre is in the mind. intimate human sensibilities, and the focus
The extent to which composers acknowledge instantly shifts from identification of the sounds
this tendency variesconsiderably,and is reflected to questions about the condition of the person
in their works: whilst Denis Smalley's pieces making them, and their possible causes. The
revolve around subtle textural patternings, analogy between the voice and the electronic
Trevor Wishart actively exploits the potential studio, with its triple potential for the high-
which it affords, constructing whole narratives fidelity reproduction of real sound-objects,
out of his ordering of recognizable sounds and distortion/transformationof them in a variety of
transformationsbetween them (for example in ways, and generation of synthetic or 'fictitious'
his piece Red Bird).With this in mind, we may sounds, provides a useful starting-point for this
discuss electroacoustic music as operating in discussion. Throughout Visage, the extent to
terms of abstracttheatre or concretetheatre; which the voice functions as predominantly
significantly, the approach of the composer in referring to other things (as opposed to being in
this respect frequently correspondsto his or her itself the main object of attention) is in a state of
interest in, or indifference to, the variety of the flux, like a filter, the nature and transparencyor
possible uses of the human voice. opacity of which varies with time. Sometimesthe
The dichotomy between the properties of vocal sounds seem to react to the electronic
concrete sounds as 'sound objects' and as sounds, and sometimes to merge with them; the
'signifiers' is analogous to that which exists relationshipbetween them never remains stable
between the phonetic and semantic levels of for long.
language.Thus when the voice is introducedinto The question of the voice's subjectivity or
electroacousticmusic - the voice, with its ability objectivity, and the relation of this to its
to communicate not only through language but operation as primarilydescriptive or responsive,
also tone of voice, inflection etc., and above all may be viewed in several ways. An obvious
by virtue of its ultimate inseparabilityfrom the approachwould be to associateits more primitive
18 Berio's'Visage'and the Theatreof Electroacoustic
Music

LucianoBerio with (in mirror)Cathy Berberian(photo:courtesyof The LondonSinfonietta)

cries with heightened emotional states, and recorded cries and other vocal emissions were
conclude that these sounds yield information actuallysimulatedresponsesto pain, etc., and thus
primarily about the condition of the person a result of voluntarymental processes. If we accept
producing them - whilst the moments at which that such sounds can be made at will, they are no
the voice commands the largest vocabulary (and longer in themselves reliable indicators of the
its calmest), correspondingto the highest degree situation of the subject. However, at one point
of semantic specificity, are points of lucidity and (c.6'39"-7'13") screams are accompanied by
objectivity. Certainly there is a sense, at these sharp,incisive electronic sounds on the tape, and
points, that the mind behind the voice is very this acts to corroborate the stark image of a
much in control, re-evoking and describing woman being hit. It marks an extreme mimesis
scenes distant in time or space: the tone and the in the purely electronic part of the piece, which
breathy quality of the voice are reminiscent of generally retains a more circumscribed,abstract
story-telling. Yet any attempt to interpret this character.
behaviouras objective (even if that criterionwere Immediately after this the crying of the voice
satisfied merely by high fidelity to a known is abruptly transformed into panting laughter
fairytale) is immediately subverted by the fact and then into low clicks. The ensuing passage
that the words are all imaginaryand do not mean (c.7' 13"-7'25")is in many ways a mirrorimage of
anything. We are hearing, rather, an abstraction that which it follows: the voice makes a unique
and amplification of all the semiotic elements of foray into the sound-world of 1950s electronic
the type of speech we use when we tell stories.3 music in its low clicking sound, and it is the turn
It is equally possible to take an opposite of the real electronic sounds to 'respond', this
viewpoint, and claim that the most primitive time imitatively, rather than confrontationally.
utterances represent the voice at its most The two sounds become indistinguishable, and
objective, since the sounds produced are a direct thus any attempt to characterize the vocal and
result of involuntaryreflex responsesto physical electronic components of the piece as discrete or
stimuli, and as such do not depend on the mental opposing forces is quickly thwarted. Against
state of the subject. However, from a detached these sharply differentiated passages there are
position this argument too may be rejected, stretches of music in which both voice and
owing to the implicit assumption that the tape- electronics occupy a kind of no-man's land of
3A
process analogous to (but not the same as) the bleeps
and brief vocal emissions (c.8'00"-8'35").
of
amplification musical of
aspects Joyce's text in Berio's Although the question of the objectivity or
Thema(Ommagioa Joyce). subjectivityof the voice part must remainlargely
Berio's'Visage'and the Theatreof Electroacoustic
Music 19

unanswered, it is possible to suggest that whilst hallucination:are events taking place within the
the piece's extremes of primitive utterances and mind of the subject or around her? Three
relatively sophisticateduse of linguistic elements possibilities become equally likely: she may be
are both representative of a common human reactingto external stimuli, acting like a prism or
vocal repertory (the passages which utilize filter which distorts reality, or merely deluding.
imaginary words are modelled on archetypal Our inability to find a stable location for the
patternsof inflection associatedwith storytelling action, and above all the consistent denial of
or television speech, and the screamsand cries are languageas a possible meansof identificationand
fundamentalto human nature),the exceptionally thereby distancing (ironically reinforced by the
finely differentiated shades of laughter (for reiteration of 'parole', which means 'words')
example at c.3'20", 6'08" and 8'50") are more continually reflect the focus back onto the one
personaltraits.Although recognizablysignificant tangible element - the voice - serving to
of various mental states, some of them are highly reintensify the drama.Nor is the question of the
idiosyncraticand, taken in isolation, appearto be location of the essential subject matter of the
indicativeof the singularnatureof the individual. piece as simple as even this would imply. If the
However, the emergence of any enduring distress apparentin the voice were symptomatic
appraisal of the personality of the subject is of the desperatesearchfor reality and attempt to
precluded by the rapid transitionsor vacillation find order amongst the imaginary voices heard
between contradictoryvocal behaviours. Some- during an hallucination, then it follows that the
times the voice metamorphosesbetween sounds woman whose voice is heard on the tape is
associated with distress and pleasure in a very engaged in the very same futile attempts at
short space of time (for example at c.6'39" and a categorization of perceived (but virtual)
7'13"); at others it teeters unsteadily on a knife- phenomenainto divisions such as unreal and real,
edge between hysterical laughter and tears cause and effect, objective and subjective, with
(c.2'40"-3'19").If the vocal gesturesareconsidered which we were concerned above.
in groups, rather than by themselves, the As the sense of disorientationand dislocation
repeated negation of one sign by another increases throughout the piece, the comfortable
underminesany sense of a stable personality,and distinctionbetween the listener and the dramatic
threatens the very notion of the subject as an charactertends to blur and dissolve: the turbulent
individual. events in her mind are mapped directly onto
This issues a seriouschallenge to the facultyby those of the audience, the spotlight turns on
which we systematizeperceived phenomena into them, and in an extraordinaryand sophisticated
our world-view (and thereby reduce their coupdetheatre they areforcedinto self-examination.
potency to a functionallevel). If we are bound to This accountsfor the extremely disturbingeffect
contemporary rationalism, which regards the Visagehas on some people - the inability to
healthy psyche as a discrete and autonomous distance themselves from the voice leaves them
entity, the view of the voice as that of one exposed to questions about their own sanity and
individual throughout the piece (as the sonic the validity of theirview of the world. The notion
evidence clearly suggests) remains tenable only that voice (which reflects, unmediated, the
through the invocation of concepts such as a relentless, uncontrollable oscillation of the
nightmare scenario, or a 'split personality' or character's mental state) forces sympathetic
some other mental disorder. Istvan Anhalt's resonances in the minds of the audience,
assertion (made in respect of Berio's solo vocal amplifying the sense of rudderlessness and
work SequenzaIII, but also applicable to Visage) distress, invokes the absurd spectre of a chain
that 'Berio portrays a woman who reveals, it reaction or an endless feedback loop of psychic
seems, a syndrome of psychic ailments that disturbance between the person (becoming
containselements of schizophrenia'(Anhalt:27)is intermittently the subject) who apprehends it,
echoed by severalother commentators;however, and the sound source itself. Thus the origin, as
it appearsthat Berio himself refutes this psycho- well as the nature, of the complex of emotional
logical interpretation(Osmond-Smith, 1991:67), and mental states associated with the piece is
preferring to leave the question open. called into question.
At the first suggestion that the voice on the Only when the piece has finished does it
tape is attached to a mind which cannot control become possible to diminish its considerable
itself, the listener's method of mentally evoking impact.This is frequentlyachieved at the'expense
the missing elements of theatre is undermined: of a genuine appreciationof the challenge which
we are no longer certain whether what the voice the work poses to the listener's creative and
is responding to/describing is real life or an theatrical imagination. Through the use of
20 Berio's'Visage'and the Theatreof Electroacoustic
Music

language - the very negation of which allows acoustic music for the superimposition (and
the piece such potency - explanations and symbolic unification) of speech, song and purely
rationalizationsare invoked which found them- abstract sound as different incarnations of a
selves upon analyticalscrutinyof the voice as an central idea or feeling. The three elements work
external object. Thus the ex-listener (turned perfectly together and, as elsewhere, the voice
talker), projects the anxiety and distress back communicatesall the salient informationwithout
onto the dramaticcharacter,and, having expelled recourse to real words. One wonders here
the distastefulelements of the experience, is able whether the combinationof the grave tone and a
comfortably to digest it into their world-view, Hebrew-based phonology in a work written not
which (along with their own crucial position all that long after the Second World War is
within it), remains intact. intentionally significant. If it is, this hint of
Such a response, it is argued, is merely reference to an outside situation is merely a
functional: after the concert, life goes on, and suggestionin a piece otherwise rigorouslydevoid
some means of regaining emotional stability is of signs pertaining to specific causative events.
necessary.When this becomes the basic approach Through the negation of language it focuses
for an analyticalthesis, however, one senses that intensively on the effects,in human terms, of the
the analysthas missedthe point: the way in which kind of actions with which the world is all too
they select and schematize events in support of familiar, but without stooping to the level of
their conclusions seems to speak more of identifyingculpritsandvictims, remainingalways
themselvesthanof the piece under consideration. internationalanduniversal.The invocation of, on
According to Istvan Anhalt (in his useful the one hand, electronic sounds which carry no
discussion of SequenzaIII): specific connotations,and, on the other, the most
LucianoBeriohascreateda vocalportraitof a woman, meaningful sound of all - the human voice -
makes possible the establishmentand dissolution
probablyNorth American... It seemsshe is in no
mood to addressus througha coherentdiscourse, of innumerable different interrelationships,and
spokenor sung,andperhapsshe is incapableof doing allows Berio freely to exploit the potential for
so ... Sherevealswhatmightappearto one as a great referential ambiguity inherent in the electro-
varietyof feelings,highlyunstablemoods,anxieties, acoustic medium. The extreme and carefully
neurosis,andpsychosis,andshe is quiteunconcerned calculatedtension between the great accuracyof
withtheseandpossiblyunableto concealthem... We semiotic specificity and the total lack of semantic
sensethat she may be a personwhose thinkingand
specificity forces the mind of the listener into
perceivingareregulatedmoreby irrepressible desires
creative activity.
or needs,thanby anawareness of anyobjectivereality
aroundher. (Anhalt:25) In itself, Visagedefies categories - it has no
messageor story, the electronic and vocal sounds
Sometimes this intense scrutiny from a safely are no more opposing dramaticforces than they
entrenched, distant position takes on an air of are partners,neither can be labelled as objective
voyeurism; later on in the same chapter the or subjective, and no stable behaviouralpatterns
author cites Cathy Berberian's description of can be discerned in either: even the overall
SequenzaIII as 'an X-ray of a woman's inner trajectoryof the voice, from isolated phonemes
life' (40) and continues: 'She conceals little, and to sustainednotes, is far from linear. At this point
stands, figuratively speaking, naked before us, it becomes clear why Berio is so reluctant to
in this quasi-clinical,albeit abstractedreconstruc- participate in the futile quest for an inter-
tion.' In its failure to discussthe music-theatrical pretation;every facet of the piece is designed to
event as a phenomenon which exists through provoke analysis, only to ridicule it. One must
the perception and interpretationof an audience, look not at the piece, but at one's own self in
this approach omits consideration of the most relation to it; thus any quasi-scientificstructural
important elements of the overall drama. analysiswhich isolates it, failing to acknowledge
Despite the general focus of the foregoing the creative activity requiredof the analystas the
discussion,Visagedoes not work throughsemiotic inventorof the structure,is invalid. It seems that,
discontinuity alone: at 13'14" the voice sings in its extraordinarycapacityto engage the listener
pitched notes for the first time, and the passage and to awakenin them profound questionsabout
from 15'30"to 17'31"achievesits greatpoignancy themselves and their relation to others, this piece
and eloquence through steadily working its way is without parallel. It belongs to a unique
deeper into a single mood. At this point there is dramaticgenre which offers a theatricalexperi-
no doubt as to the sanity of the character,or of ence without boundaries; the location is the
the seriousness of what is being said, and the virtual space of the mind, and the protagonist
work exploits the unique potential of electro- anyone who cares to listen.
Music 21
Berio's'Visage'and the Theatreof Electroacoustic

Bibliography

Anhalt, I. Essaysoncontemp- Osmond-Smith, D. BerioOxford: Oxford University


AlternativeVoices:
orary vocal and choralcomposition Press, 1991
London: University of Toronto Osmond-Smith, D. 'From Myth to Music: Levi-
Press, 1984 Strauss'Mythologiques and Berio's
MusicEnglewood Cliffs,
Appleton, J.H., & Electronic Sinfonia' Music Quarterlylxvii/2
Perera, R.C. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1975 (Apr 1981) pp.230-60
Berio, L. Two InterviewsLondon: Marion Pierce, J.R. The Scienceof MusicalSoundNew
Boyars, 1985 York: Freeman, 1983
Blake, D. 'ElectronicMusic by Cage, Berio, Schrader, B. IntroductiontoElectro-acoustic
Music
Mimoroglu' Musical Times cvii/ Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
1491 (May 1967), p.435 Prentice-Hall 1982
Emery, J. 'Promenade Concerts' Musical Wishart, T. Red Bird: A Document York:
Timesci/1412 (Oct 1960), p.304 Wishart, 1978
Emmerson, S.(ed.) The Language of Electroacoustic
Music London: Macmillan, 1986
Ernst, D. The evolution of electronicmusic References for Petrassi article, cf. p.10
New York: Schirmer, 1977
Flynn, G.W. 'Listeningto Berio's Music' Music Mario Bartolotto, 'Il cammino di Goffredo Petrassi'
Quarterlylxi/3 (Jul 1975) pp.388- in Guido M. Gatti (ed.), L'operadi GoffredoPetrassi
421 (Turin: Einaudi, Quadernidella RassegnaMusicale 1,
Griffiths, P. Guideto ElectronicMusicLondon: 1964).
Faber, 1979
ReginaldSmithBrindle, 'ContemporaryItalianMusic',
Levi-Strauss,C. Myth and Meaning London: in Howard
Hartog (ed.), EuropeanMusic in the 20th
Routledge, 1978
R. notes for Century(London: Pelican Books, 1961).
Marsh, 'Visage' (programme
the Royal Academy of Music John S. Weissmann, GoffredoPetrassi(Milan: Edizioni
Berio Festival, London, 1989) Suvini Zerboni, 1957).

For further information


on the works of
SALVATORESCIARRINO i
I

GOFFREDO PETRASSI
and other composers in the
Ricordi ContemporaryCatalogue I

Please contact:
G. RICORDI & Co. (London) LTD.
I
The Bury, Church Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1JG
Telephone: (01494) 783311 Fax: (01494) 784427

RICORDI
I"'- ` -"'""`"""
%
I

You might also like