Luciano Berio Sinfonia · Ekphrasis (2005)

Luciano Berio was one of the most important Italian composers of the second half of the twentieth century, a leader of the international avant-garde who has managed to write music that is communicative and pleasing to audiences. He received musical instruction from his father and grandfather, organists in Oneglia, and continued musical training through his school years. After World War II he went to Milan to study law but also became a composition pupil with Ghedini, a composer known for his interest in many styles. He passed that interest on to Berio, who started his career as a neo-Classicist.
While in school Berio met met a remarkable American singer, Cathy Berberian. They married and went to the U.S. on their ……..
From Allmusic

Luciano Berio was one of the most important Italian composers of the second half of the twentieth century, a leader of the international avant-garde who has managed to write music that is communicative and pleasing to audiences. He received musical instruction from his father and grandfather, organists in Oneglia, and continued musical training through his school years. After World War II he went to Milan to study law but also became a composition pupil with Ghedini, a composer known for his interest in many styles. He passed that interest on to Berio, who started his career as a neo-Classicist.
While in school Berio met met a remarkable American singer, Cathy Berberian. They married and went to the U.S. on their ……..
From Allmusic

As in many of his other works, in "Stanze" Berio used the text both comprehensibly and as purely phonetic material. The movements have no titles apart from the name of the poet in question. The first and second movements are performed without a break, likewise the third and fourth.The text appears in its clearest form in the soaring melodies of the baritone soloist, whereas the choir usually only presents scraps of the text to fill out the soundscape. In the first and fourth movements, the vocal part is taken by the baritone alone, while in the others the baritone is joined by three male voice ensembles. The orchestra is also divided into three groups.
We may wonder whether Berio anticipated that Stanze would be his final work. At the very least the work acquires a poignant extra dimension.

Kimmo Korhonen (from the attached booklet)

A leader of the avant-garde, most celebrated for his groundbreaking Sinfonia (1968), Luciano Berio is presented in a much different light on this album of his appealing orchestrations of Baroque and Classical works, vividly performed by Riccardo Chailly and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. These colorful transcriptions and reworkings of pieces and fragments by Purcell, Bach, Boccherini, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms will, in most cases, attract listeners for their surprising accessibility and clarity.