Tribute to Berio on the Centenary of His Birth

music by Luciano Berio

Naturale, for viola and percussions

Folk Songs, for ensemble and soprano

Ljuba Bergamelli, soprano

Icarus vs Muzak

On the occasion of the centenary of Luciano Berio’s birth, Icarus Ensemble also celebrates one of Italy’s greatest composers with two works dedicated to the voice.
On one hand, the celebrated Folksongs, a reimagining of traditional melodies from various parts of the world and Italian regions (some of them invented by the composer), interpreted by Ljuba Bergamelli; on the other, Naturale, for viola, percussion, and tape, written in the 1980s for dance, with the voice recorded.

“The original texts of Naturale are Sicilian songs commented by the voice of Celano, perhaps the last true Sicilian storyteller, whom I had the privilege and fortune of meeting (and recording) in Palermo during the summer of 1968,” which inserts itself “singing instead of the abbagnate, songs of street vendors, of rare intensity.”