The Classical Music Book

316

T

he 1960s—a decade of

profound social change—

reached its height in 1968,

the year in which Luciano Berio’s

Sinfonia had its first performance.

These changes—the Civil Rights

Movement, student protests, new

mass media channels, and the

clash of high art and popular

culture—were happening on

streets and in homes around the

world, and all made their way into

Italian composer Luciano Berio’s

dismantling and reconstruction

of classical music history.

Sinfonia—the title of which is

a deliberate allusion to the old-

fashioned symphony genre—

established Berio as one of the

most inventive composers of his

generation. Commissioned by

Leonard Bernstein and the New

York Philharmonic Orchestra, it is

best known for its extraordinary

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Quotation and collage

BEFORE

1906 American composer

Charles Ives writes “Central

Park in the Dark,” an early

example of musical collage.

1952 Imaginary Landscape

No. 5 by John Cage creates an

unpredictable collage using 42

records as its source materials.

AFTER

1977 Alfred Schnittke

composes his Concerto Grosso

No. 1 in an example of the

collage technique that he

called “polystylism.”

1981 The Adventures of

Grandmaster Flash on the

Wheels of Steel showcases

the virtuoso DJ mixing

techniques that were a

foundation of early hip-hop.

The Swingle Singers perform in

1965, typically with only drums and

double bass as accompaniment. The

French group made jazzy covers of

both popular and classical pieces.

IN MUSIC ... THINGS

DON’T GET BETTER OR

WORSE: THEY EVOLVE

AND TRANSFORM

THEMSELVES

SINFONIA (1968–1969), LUCIANO BERIO

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