English | Italiano

Alternatim (author's note)

Alternatim
for clarinet, viola and orchestra (1997)

The term alternatim evokes a medieval technique in which plainchant and polyphony, voices and organ alternated. However, in this “double concerto” for clarinet, viola and orchestra, the term is used metaphorically. The musical discourse is made mostly of interweaving lines whose contours are constantly transformed. All the musical functions are generated by the soloists. They interact with the orchestra through figures which are more or less similar, more or less thematic and more or less recognizable, that “alternatively” emerge and subside in the orchestral texture and silence.

Luciano Berio

Note d'autore: informazioni generali | Author's note: general info