Track Listing

1. Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for soprano, piano, orchestra & tape: [Comienzo]
2. Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for soprano, piano, orchestra & tape: Lusiano!
3. Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for soprano, piano, orchestra & tape: En los vientos azar�sos
4. Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for soprano, piano, orchestra & tape: [Entrada del piano]
5. Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for soprano, piano, orchestra & tape: Voces de ni�os
6. Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for soprano, piano, orchestra & tape: [Entrada de la orquesta]
7. Como una ola de fuerza y luz, for soprano, piano, orchestra & tape: [Entrada de la orquesta y del piano]
8. ...sofferte onde serene..., for piano & tape
9. Contrappunto dialettico alla mente, for tape

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80047 in Music
• Released on: 1988-07-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Album Details
Luigi Nono was One of the Most Original and Influential Composers to Emerge from Post War Italy. Having Always Guided by a Keen Awareness of Social Unity (He Joined Italy's Communist Party in 1952) Nono's Works Often Take the Form of Highly Empowering Expressive Public Spectacles. Here Among Others, Two of the Composers More Famous Longstanding Champions of his Work Mauricio Pollini and Claudio Abbado Perform Three of the Composers Most Evocative Works- the 'sofferte Onde Serene' and 'contrappunto Dialettico Alla Mente' Written Specifically for Them. If You Enjoy the Efforts of Stockhausen and Ligeti, Nono Will Certainly Be of Interest as Well.

Customer Reviews

Revolutionary music.
Luigi Nono (1924-1990) was one of the 20th century's most radical composers. Nono, who fought against the Fascists in the Italian Resistance during World War II, studied both music and law in the post-war years before joining the Italian Communist Party in 1952. During the mid- to late-1950s, Nono taught at Darmstadt, the center of European serialism, and with Boulez and Stockhausen was the foremost exponent of that music on the continent. Nono married Schoenberg's daughter, Nuria, in 1955, and severed his ties with Darmstadt in 1959, after delivering a lecture entitled "The Presence of History in the Music of Today." This lecture was the composer's most notable public statement concerning his own radical Marxist politics, and the 1960s and 1970s saw Nono taking an increasingly active role the affairs of the Communist Party, for which he served on the Central Committee.

Like Pollini, Abbado, and Berio, Nono's worldview was permanently shaped by the subjection of Italy to the Fascism of Mussolini. All turned to Marxism in response, and Nono's deeply held political beliefs are on display throughout this magnificent collection of works from the late 1960s and early '70s. Unlike Stockhausen and Boulez, Nono saw in serialism a revolutionary musical grammar with implications extending beyond the realm of the purely musical into the realm of the political. Nono's adoption of serialism was a response to the domination of capitalism, imperialism, and the continued subjugation of the many by the few. Nono's music, which is initially forbidding and inaccessible, can be understood as the embodiment of Marx's concept of the unity of theory and practice. This is a revolutionary music, through which the composer expresses his hope for a world of true freedom rather than slavery, alienation, and mass murder.

"Como una ola de fuerza y luz" is dedicated to the memory of Lusiano Cruz, whose name is repeated in the work by the soprano vocalist (in this case, Slavka Taskova). Cruz, a Chilean revolutionary, died in 1971, two years before the Kissinger-planned coup which led to the death of Marxist president Salvador Allende and the installation of the Fascist Augusto Pinochet, who murdered Chileans en masse for the next 17 years. Nono's text implores the dead Cruz to "keep on glowing, young as the revolution in every one of your peoples' struggles." This powerful piece features thundering piano work from Nono's fellow Marxist, Maurizio Pollini, whose virtuosity is offset by the composer's jarring tape manipulations. A beautifully conceived and executed work.

Pollini again contributes his piano skills to 1976's "... sofferte onde serene. . . ." Moments of lyricism are contrasted against Nono's magnetic tape arrangements, and the result is a stunning mixture of opacity and accessibility. A challenging, but ultimately satisfying work.

"Contrappunto dialettico alla mente" (1968) again sets overtly political texts in Nono's pursuit of a total political engagement, "ideological and technical." Using words from Malcolm X and an anti-Vietnam War pamphlet, Nono crafts a work that is a reflection of the warped society it criticizes: terrifying, overwhelming, remorseless. The shrieking voices and intimations of violence echo the horrific destruction of the late-1960s. This is one of Nono's most important and ideologically characteristic works.

Obviously, this is not music for everyone, but for the openminded and discerning listener, this disc contains treasures. Nono's work is among the most vital and dynamic to emerge from the 20th century avant-garde, and in our modern world of Fascism, war, and imperialism, the political message which lies behind Nono's music has never been more relavent.

Massive Orchestral Violence
Having posessed this disc for quite a few years I was surprised to see it again here. This is not music for the faint of heart. Ultimately this music is about destruction - maybe the lyrics are not, but the music itself is. Nono went on to other musical ideas later on in his career, but this truly is Nono at his most ruthless on the ear. This music demands a very high end stereo system and either no neighbors or deaf neighbors. The last movement of Como una ola... is pretty uncompromising. I find it the apex of anger, hatred and violence in music that I have heard so far out of the Nono catalog. The performances on this disc are first rate. No other recording (yes, there are others) approaches the intensity of this. Buy this if you are extremely agitated yourself or want to be.

Nono masterpiece plus two, with Pollini and Abbado
This is the original recording of one of Nono's masterpieces, with Maurizio Pollini on piano and Claudio Abbado conducting. "Como una ola de fuerza y luz" ("Like a Wave of Strength and Light") was written in 1971-2 commemmorating the death of a friend of Nono's, Luciano Cruz, a Chilean leftist opponent of Pinochet. A 30-minute piece, it features soprano voice, piano, orchestra, and electronics. It is incredible in every aspect, and though challenging, it is one of Nono's more accessible works, the perfect introduction to the work of one of the late 20th century's greatest composers. "...sofferte onde serene..." ("serene waves suffered"), for piano and magnetic tape, is a fantastic 14-minute piece featuring Pollini in the Schoenberg/Webern tradition. Finally, "Contrappunto dialettico alla mente" is a startling radical 20-minute piece for vocals and electronics, with lyrics from Malcolm X and an anti-Vietnam war flier among other sources. The booklet contains the complete text, thankfully, since the vocals are all in Italian.

This album was originally issued in 1990, but it has not been available recently in the U.S. .... Grab it quick before it disappears again! DG has now packaged these recordings of "Como una ola..." and "sofferte" under Pollini's name, along with a third piano piece not by Nono (a single-disc taken from the massive Pollini Edition). This disc, from DG's excellent mid-line "20th Century Classics" series, is clearly preferable if you are interested in Nono and not just Pollini.