Rafel Caldentey
Dialogues, in homage to Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez, on the 100th anniversary of their birth (1925–2025).
Program
Luciano Berio, Sequenza IXc, for bass clarinet (1980)
Pierre Boulez, Dialogue de l’ombre double, for clarinet and pre-recorded clarinet* (1985)
Performers
Rafel Caldentey Crego, clarinet and bass clarinet
Sebastian Schottke, sound control and spatialization
With the participation of students from the Conservatori Superior de Música de les Illes Balears
Program notes
Published in 1982 but dated 1980, Sequenza IX was developed from material taken from an earlier work, Chemins V, originally composed in 1979 for clarinet and “digital filters.” These filters were designed to imitate vocal phonations, producing a kind of shadow effect, and were created thanks to the IRCAM 4C digital processor, designed by Italian physicist Giuseppe Di Giugno. Chemins V premiered at a concert dedicated to Berio’s music, performed by Michel Arrignon on April 26, 1980 at the Théâtre d’Orsay in Paris. Unfortunately, the premiere failed due to a computer malfunction during the performance. Even when the computer worked correctly, however, Berio was not satisfied with the final result. In response, he decided to rework the existing material to create a new piece for solo clarinet (Sequenza IX). The work, now retitled Chemins “ex” V, was removed from the composer’s catalog, while the title Chemins V was reused for a different piece for guitar and chamber orchestra.
Curiously, Pierre Boulez’s Dialogue de l’ombre double, composed in 1985 for solo clarinet and spatialized pre-recorded clarinet, explores shadow-like concepts similar to those Berio had attempted in Chemins “ex” V. Boulez dedicated this work to Luciano Berio for his sixtieth birthday, and it is possible that he conceived it as a reinterpretation—or even a response—to Berio’s failed project.
Joshua Heaney, Berio’s Sequenza IX: Enticing the Listener
Dialogues is a program conceived for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez, presented at the ME_MMIX Festival of electronic music, mixed music, and video installation, 2025.