Luciano Berio: Sinfonia (Electric Phoenix, CBSO, Simon Rattle, 1987)

Luciano Berio: Sinfonia
Electric Phoenix
Judith Rees
Nicole Tibbels
Susan Bickley
Carol Hall
Daryl Runswick
Peter Hall
Gordon Jones
Terry Edwards
John Whiting, Sound Balance
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Simon Rattle, Conducter
Barrie Gavin, Director 1987

[@JohnLelandWhiting]

This is the intro I posted on Facebook:
With time on my hands (who hasn’t these days?!), I’ve gone back to the video of the Berio Sinfonia with Electric Phoenix, the CBSO and Simon Rattle which the BBC broadcast in 1987, which I had videoed off the air, and have put it up on TH-cam. Allow me to bore you with a few technical details:
Recording without an audience, it was possible to achieve a balance of voices and orchestra which all the performers were able to hear clearly. A pair of loudspeakers normally flank the singers and the conductor facing out toward the audience, but for this recording they were a few feet in front of the stage area, facing each other and equidistant from my mixing desk at the front of the stalls, which was much closer than would have been practical with an audience. (You can see the arrangement occasionally in the course of the recording.) That meant that the speakers served as foldback for us all.
A problem with Sinfonia recordings is that if the voices are clearly audible, they can sound close-miked and in a different sound world from the orchestra. But the BBC not only took a split of my microphone mix of the singers but also placed a pair of directional mics a few feet from the loudspeakers as well so that they were able to add discreet ambience to the close miking. Brilliant!
A word about the video. There are none of the usual jump cuts from instrument to instrument which disfigure virtually all orchestral recordings, but instead cross fades which flow with the music. In the 3rd movement at least the ghost image of the first tenor is always there, acknowledging and emphasizing the fact that he carries the whole movement like a sort of ground bass. Throughout the entire composition the camera sequences flow with the music and reinforce its total structure rather than distracting from it. Why is this not the norm?!
The first twenty minutes of the program consists of an exploration of the work’s structure, with conversation among Simon Rattle, Terry Edwards and Judith Rees and previously recorded further explanations from Berio. What careful thought went into the total structure of this program: director Barrie Gavin is an intellect as well as an artist! (John Kenny tells me that he’s going to make this program assigned viewing for his Guildhall students.)

[@MrBohuslav]

Thank you, Mr Berio

[@adamnagel1878]

Thank you so so much for posting this on youtube ever since I first discovered the piece in the early 80s I have been convinced that it is one of the true masterpieces of the 1960s seeing this TV programme second time round I am now also really struck by the innovative camera work THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[@mriehenh3411]

thanks!!

[@derblindesanchez7250]

Thanks so much!!!

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

Goodness me how fast is got old and out of fashion... Incredible. Berio's conventional Folk songs probably get 10x the performance. I feel bad for an old man.

[@roderickdewar1064]

viva la musique contra the deaf captilists

[@spalavecino1]

Thanks so much!