This choral version seems to be imagined like variations of a single theme, but the main intention was to realize a modern version of this early song with a contemporary aesthetic, without removing the original theme.
Voices have many possibilities; singing (with different timbres, falsettos, glissandi, and others), whispering, speaking, shouting, half-speaking, half-singing (sprechgesang), but also making noises (like hissing, or breathing sounds for example).
Norma Basso also included improvisation based on random combinations from the given elements (elements mentioned within cells placed between bars 17 and 163, more held sounds and silences) in order to create a changing and unique mass of sounds with an intense expression, nearly dramatic.
In the introduction, the breathing sound (mentioned like Berio did) is intertwined with the singing parts. It’s preceding the first improvisation (4th system) where notation is completely different: time is measured in seconds, sopranos randomly mix short semi-tone glissandi and pianissimo silences, altos hiss a background motive, tenor and bass perform an adjustable nasal sound. During the second improvisation, sopranos mix pianissimo diminished fifth glissandi and altos individually perform a dramatic “sprechgesang.”
Norma Basso introduced a new contemporary aesthetic instead of harmonic and melodic distortions, except in the 7th verse in which a Messiaen mode is introduced.
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