Composer

:

Luciano Berio

Genre

:

Chamber

Style

:

Chamber Music

Compose Date

:

1986

Average_duration

:

1:29

'Good Night' is a composition for soprano and eight instruments, composed by Luciano Berio in 1990. The piece was premiered on October 12, 1990, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, by the soprano Cathy Berberian and the Ensemble InterContemporain, conducted by Pierre Boulez. The composition consists of five movements, each based on a different text. The first movement, "O King," is a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and features a spoken recording of his "I Have a Dream" speech. The second movement, "Lay This Body Down," is a spiritual that Berio arranged for soprano and ensemble. The third movement, "African Lullaby," is based on a traditional African lullaby and features the soprano singing in Swahili. The fourth movement, "Loosely Based on a Theme by William Walton," is a tribute to the English composer William Walton and features the soprano singing a text by the Italian poet Edoardo Sanguineti. The final movement, "Good Night," is based on a text by the American poet Robert Creeley and features the soprano singing a lullaby. The characteristics of 'Good Night' are typical of Berio's style, which is characterized by a fascination with the human voice and a willingness to experiment with different musical styles and techniques. The piece is notable for its use of spoken recordings, traditional songs, and contemporary poetry, as well as its incorporation of electronic sounds and extended vocal techniques. The result is a complex and multi-layered work that challenges the listener's expectations and invites them to explore new sonic possibilities.

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