Page 318 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

316

IN MUSIC … THINGS

DON’T GET BETTER OR

WORSE: THEY EVOLVE

AND TRANSFORM

THEMSELVES

SINFONIA (1968–1969), LUCIANO BERIO

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 he 1960s—a decade of The Swingle Singers perform in
collage technique that he profound social change— 1965, typically with only drums and
called “polystylism.” T reached its height in 1968, double bass as accompaniment. The
the year in which Luciano Berio’s French group made jazzy covers of
1981 The Adventures of Sinfonia had its first performance. both popular and classical pieces.
Grandmaster Flash on the These changes—the Civil Rights
Wheels of Steel showcases Movement, student protests, new Sinfonia—the title of which is
the virtuoso DJ mixing mass media channels, and the a deliberate allusion to the old-
techniques that were a clash of high art and popular fashioned symphony genre—
foundation of early hip-hop. culture—were happening on established Berio as one of the
streets and in homes around the most inventive composers of his
world, and all made their way into generation. Commissioned by
Italian composer Luciano Berio’s Leonard Bernstein and the New
dismantling and reconstruction York Philharmonic Orchestra, it is
of classical music history. best known for its extraordinary

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