October 31, 2025

Luciano Berio (1925-2003)

54 minutes

To celebrate the centenary of his birth, Kate Molleson explores the life and music of one of most influential figures in all of modern music – Luciano Berio. Berio’s music is lyrical and expressive, while never ignoring the most advanced techniques and technologies of his time. He worked with many key figures in 20th Century music while always following his own, very individual path, both through life and in his music, where he constantly pushed at and broke the boundaries he encountered.

Music featured:

Folk

Différences

Petite Suite

Coro

Sequenza IV

Canzonetta for piano 4 hands

Sequenza III

Chamber Music No 1 “Strings in the Earth and Air”

Visage

Beatles Songs - “Yesterday”

Requies

Cinque variazioni

Calmo (in memorium Bruno Maderna)

Thema - Omaggio a Joyce

Chemins I (su sequenza II) for harp and orchestra

Folk Songs

Sequenza V

Laborintus II

Sinfonia

E si fussi pisci

Sequenza IX

Rendering (2nd mvt, Andante)

Altra voce

Presented by Kate Molleson

Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Audio Wales & West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Luciano Berio (1925-2003): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002kz1p

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

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By BBC Radio 3

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