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Episode details

Radio 3,27 Oct 2025,59 mins

Series Luciano Berio (1925-2003)

The boundaries of youth

Composer of the Week

Available for 28 days

Kate Molleson explores Luciano Berio’s youth in the turbulent environment of Benito Mussolini’s Italy. 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. During this week, Kate looks in more depth at some of these limits: the boundaries he was conditioned to recognise in his youth, the boundaries and possibilities of the human voice, the boundaries of other people, the boundary of Europe’s cultural scene, and the boundaries of the musical past and the musical future. In Monday’s episode, Kate Molleson explores Luciano Berio’s youth in the turbulent environment of Benito Mussolini’s Italy. He was surrounded by music with both his father and grandfather being musicians and we’ll learn about an early pivotal encounter with the music of Puccini. We’ll pay a visit to the barracks where Berio’s promising potential career as a pianist ended, and discover how Berio came to rebel against his fascist upbringing. His rejection of the politics of his country and family, and the limits the regime had placed on his cultural exposure led to a trauma which he said needed an 'exorcism' to get over. Folk Songs - Ballo Cathy Berberian, singer Julliard Ensemble Luciano Berio, conductor Différences mixed media tape and flute Petite Suite Matteo Bevilacqua, piano Coro (excerpt) WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne Cologne Radio Chorus Herbert Schernus, conductor Sequenza IV Florent Boffard, piano Produced by Sam Phillips for ѿý Audio Wales & West

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Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Ballo from Folk Songs
    Ballo from Folk Songs
    Luciano Berio
  3. 2.
    Differences
    Differences
    Luciano Berio
  4. 3.
    Petite Suite
    Petite Suite
    Luciano Berio
  5. 4.
    Coro (excerpt)
    Coro (excerpt)
    Luciano Berio
  6. 5.
    Sequenza IV for piano
    Sequenza IV for piano
    Luciano Berio