Songs Cathy Sang, Music Composed for Cathy Berberian

Berio: Folksongs & Sequenza III - Cage: Aria - Pousseur: Phonèmes pour Cathy - Berberian: Stripsody

Cathy Berberian, a great mezzo-soprano with an incredibly varied vocal palette and a highly eclectic repertoire (she recorded baroque covers of The Beatles!) was above all the vocal muse of the entire musical avant-garde of the 1960s. She is particularly associated with the compositions of Luciano Berio, who was at one time her husband and composed the iconic and striking Sequenza III, a tour de force making use of all the expressive possibilities and all types of vocal emission of the performer, who must be as much an actress as a singer. He also arranged for her traditional melodies from the four corners of the world, compiled under the name of Folksongs. Other composers, such as John Cage and Henri Pousseur, have also dedicated her highly innovative compositions, involving a degree of randomness and leaving the singer a great deal of freedom. Cathy Berberian herself composed the astonishing Stripsody, based on onomatopoeia collected from comic strip phylacteries!

Singer Linda Hirst, who knew her well as a former member of the Swingle Singers, paid tribute to Cathy Berberian in 1987 with this album of some of the most notable compositions dedicated to her.