Luciano Berio - Luciano Berio: Coro/Cries of London

Luciano Berio's 'Coro' has been described as the work that 'exemplifies all the qualities that made him one of the leading composers of our time'. The work's full title is 'Coro for voices and instruments', and the 40 voices and 44 instrumentalists do indeed make up a single choir - instrumentalists and singers sit together, with each singer paired with a particular player, and used both as soloists and combined in mass effects. Composed in 1976, 'Coro' is also a strikingly 'global' work: Berio's use of texts (mainly translations of folk poetry) attributed to peoples - 'Peruvian', 'Croatian', 'Sioux' - turns the work into a chorus of cultures. The texts are laid out in 31 separate sections of varying length, but the overall effect is cumulative, not episodic. The only named author is the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who became a powerful posthumous voice following his death in 1973 in the wake of General Pinochet's military coup. Along with other text fragments, his words 'Come and see the blood in the streets' keep returning during the course of the work, and the sense emerges of human individuals needing to be alerted to social and political developments demanding a collective response. Under its artistic director Grete Pedersen the Norwegian Soloists' Choir has made acclaimed recordings of music ranging from Norwegian folk songs and Hildegard of Bingen to Bach, Brahms and Xenakis. Joined by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra it now takes on one of the major choral works of the past 50 years. The disc closes with Berio's smaller scale 'Cries of London', performed by members of the choir.

1) Today Is Mine... Wake Up, Woman, Rise Up, Woman - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
2) Venid a Ver - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
3) Your Eyes Are Red - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
4) Venid a Ver - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
5) Your Eyes Are Red - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
6) Venid a Ver La Sangre Por Las Calles - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
7) Wake Up, Woman, Rise Up, Woman - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
8) Venid a Ver La Sangre Por Las Calles - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
9) I Have Made a Song - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
10) Venid a Ver La Sangre - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
11) I Have Made a Song - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
12) Venid a Ver La Sangre - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
13) Wake Up, Woman, Rise Up, Woman - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
14) Venid a Ver La Sangre - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
15) Komm in Meine Nähe - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
16) Today Is Mine - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
17) Pousse L'herbe Et Fleurit La Fleur - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
18) Go, My Strong Charm... Venid a Ver - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
19) It Is So Nice - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
20) Your Eyes Are Red... El Dia Pálido Se Asoma - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
21) Mirad Mi Casa Muerta - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
22) Je' M'en Vais Ou Ma Pensée S'en Va - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
23) Pousse L'herbe Et Fleurit La Fleur - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
24) Oh Issa... Ich Sehe Tautropfen... Your Eyes Are Red - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
25) Oh Issa Lo in Alto... Komm in Meine Nähe - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
26) Come Ascend the Ladder - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
27) When We Came to This World - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
28) El Dia Oscila Rodeado - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
29) Hinach Yafa Raayati - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
30) El Dia Palido Se Asoma - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
31) Spin, Colours, Spin... El Dia Palido Se Asoma - Norwegian Soloists' Choir/Norwegian Radio Orchestra ()
32) These Are the Cries of London Town. Simply, Like a Folk Tune... - Norwegian Soloists' Choir ()
33) Where Are Ye Fair Maids That Have Need of Our Trades - Norwegian Soloists' Choir ()
34) Garlic, Good Garlic - Norwegian Soloists' Choir ()
35) These Are the Cries of London Town - Norwegian Soloists' Choir ()
36) These Are the Cries of London Town - Norwegian Soloists' Choir ()
37) Money, Penny Come to Me - Norwegian Soloists' Choir ()
38) Cry of Cries. Come Money to Me - Norwegian Soloists' Choir ()