Luciano Berio              
Sequenza III (for voice)

Claude Debussy          
Trois chansons de Bilitis:
La flûte de Pan | La chevelure | Le tombeau des Naìades

Luciano Berio              
Quattro canzoni popolari:
Dolce cominciamento | La donna ideale | Avendo gran disio | Ballo

Luciano Berio              
Petite suite (for solo piano):

Prélude | Petit Air I | Gavotte | Petit Air II | Gigue

Alfredo Casella            
Quattro favole romanesche di Trilussa:
Er coccodrillo | La carità | Er gatto e er cane | L'elezzione der presidente.

Xavier Montsalvatge    
Cinco canciones negras:
Cuba dentro de un piano | Punto de Habanera | Chévere
Canción de cura para dormir a un negrito | Canto negro

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Alda Caiello voice

Andrè Gallo piano

This programme is a tribute to the extraordinary singer Cathy Berberian, an iconic figure in twentieth-century music, celebrated for her versatility and innovation in vocal art. Her collaboration with the composer Luciano Berio marked one of the most fruitful relationships in musical history, combining private life and artistic experimentation. Berberian was a pioneer in the exploration of the expressive possibilities of the voice, as evidenced by Sequenza III, one of the most emblematic songs written for her by Berio. In this composition, the voice is no longer just a singing instrument, but becomes pure sound, theatrical gesture, exploration of the most intimate emotions.

Alongside Berio’s experimental music, the programme also presents his most lyrical and popular side with the Quattro canzoni popolari, in which tradition is reworked with a modern and innovative touch, combining melodic simplicity and harmonic complexity. The same intentions are found in Claude Debussy’s Trois chansons de Bilitis, three musical poems that evoke symbolist and sensual atmospheres, where piano and voice merge in an intimate and poetic dialogue.

A moment of instrumental respite is offered by Berio’s Petite suite for solo piano, a work that, despite its apparent simplicity, expresses the depth of the Maestro’s writing. The five movements, ranging from the Prélude to the final Gigue, recall the forms of the baroque suite, reinterpreted by the very young Berio.

Completing the programme, the lively and ironic Quattro favole romanesche by Alfredo Casella, based on texts by Trilussa, in which the voice lends itself to narratives with a popular and satirical flavour, and the Cinco canciones negras by Xavier Montsalvatge, which take us into the warm and sensual atmospheres of the Iberian world.

This recital is a journey between tradition and modernity, in which the figure of Cathy Berberian lives again, reminding us of the creative and interpretative power that made her immortal.