A project by ITER Research Ensemble in collaboration with the Centro Studi Luciano Berio (2023-2025), conceived on the occasion of Festival Luciano Berio, Radicondoli 2023: Dialoghi

Text by Giovanni Cestino, with quotations from works, writings, and interviews by Luciano Berio
Music by Alberto Favara, Giorgio Federico Ghedini, and Luciano Berio
Choral connections by Gioele Onida

Oreste Bossini narrator
with sections voiced by Emanuele Cristini and Giovanni Cestino

Alessio Giuricin tenor soloist
Paolo Ghiglione piano
ITER Research Ensemble
Giovanni Cestino conductor

Emanuele Cristini sound engineer, editing, and mastering
Alessandro Fadalti recording assistant

Recorded on March 22–23, 2025 in Cremona at La Camerata di Cremona, and on May 14, 2025 in Milan at musicadinsieme.

Acknowledgements: Angela Ida De Benedictis, Nicola Scaldaferri, Giulia Maria Taccagni, Federico Orsi, Marco Fracassi and the collaborators of La Camerata di Cremona, Alessandra Paciotti, Riccardo Pintus. We thank the LEAV – AudioVisual Ethnography Lab of the University of Milan for technical support. For the use of unpublished archival materials, we also thank the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel and the Berio Estate.

The title of this sound essay originates from a conversation with (and an intuition by) Giulia Maria Taccagni.

In the picture: Luciano Berio, E si fussi pisci, arrangement for solo viola written for Aldo Bennici, 1981, manuscript, Paul Sacher Stiftung, Allgemeine Sammlung, Fonds Aldo Bennici (courtesy); also reproduced on the website of the Centro Studi Luciano Berio.

Listening Guide

[0:00] “Se io fossi pesce […]”
Italian translation of the poetic text of “A la vitalòra,” from Canti della terra e del mare di Sicilia by Alberto Favara, vol. I (Milan: Ricordi, 1921), 14.

[1:08] “una dimensione primaria delle cose”
From an interview with Luciano Berio by Roberto Leydi, 1978, Paul Sacher Stiftung, Luciano Berio Collection (courtesy).

[1:36]
A la vitalòra
Modo di Vita (Prov. di Trapani)
Transcription and harmonization for voice and piano by Alberto Favara (1863–1923), in Canti della terra e del mare di Sicilia, vol. I (Milano: Ricordi, 1921), 15–16.

[2:58] “musicista artigiano […] sempre dentro la musica, nel bene e nel male”
Luciano Berio, “[Giorgio Federico Ghedini]” (1993), in Scritti sulla musica, by Luciano Berio, ed. by Angela Ida De Benedictis (Turin: Einaudi, 2013), 344–46: 345.

[3:25]
Si fussi pisci…
Transcription for treble voices and piano or harmonium by Giorgio Federico Ghedini (1892–1965), in Canzoniere paraviano per le scuole elementari, by Giuseppe Ippolito Rostagno and Andrea Della Corte, with very easy accompaniments for piano or harmonium by G. F. Ghedini, fasc. 4, Tra scuola e casa (Turin: G. B. Paravia, 1924), 35.

[5:25]
From an interview with Luciano Berio by Roberto Leydi, 1978, Paul Sacher Stiftung, Luciano Berio Collection (courtesy).

[6:22]
Luciano Berio (1925–2003)
Due canti siciliani
for solo tenor and male choir, 1948, unpublished manuscript held at the Paul Sacher Stiftung, Luciano Berio Collection (courtesy of all rights holders).

[9:42] “senso di profondo disagio […]”
Luciano Berio, “Folk Songs (author’s note)”, 1964, from the website of the Centro Studi Luciano Berio (last accessed: June 2, 2025).

[10:15]
Luciano Berio (1925–2003)
E si fussi pisci
for mezzo-soprano and seven performers, intended for an early version of Folk Songs, ca. 1963, manuscript held at the Paul Sacher Stiftung, Luciano Berio Collection (courtesy of all rights holders). Recording made in 1998 by an ensemble of students from the DAMS program at the University of Bologna, prepared and conducted by Nicola Scaldaferri (courtesy).

[12:12]
Luciano Berio (1925–2003)
Cries of London, III, mm. 4-8
for eight voices (1974–1976)
(Vienna: Universal Edition, © 1973, UE16828)

[13:44] “Signori, signore […]”
Luciano Berio, sketch for the libretto of Recital I (for Cathy), ca. 1971, Paul Sacher Stiftung, Cathy Berberian Collection (courtesy).

[14:17]
Luciano Berio in “Non tanto per cantare”, sixth episode of the series C’è musica & musica (RAI, 1972); excerpt taken from the box set edited by Angela Ida De Benedictis (Milan: Feltrinelli, 2013), DVD2 (courtesy of all rights holders).
[16:45] “un’opera significativa […]”
Luciano Berio, “Invito” (2003), in Scritti sulla musica, by Luciano Berio, ed. by Angela Ida De Benedictis (Turin: Einaudi, 2013), 482–98: 489.

[17:12]
Luciano Berio (1925-2003)
E si fussi pisci
Sicilian Love Song
for mixed choir (2002)
(Vienna: Universal Edition, © 2002, UE32803)