Luigi Nono, Como una ola de fuerza y luz / Y entonees comprendió (side A)

As the Western classical tradition grew increasingly experimental and open-minded in the 20th Century, instruments were used in creative ways to explore texture and space.  Vocals, however, often proved a greater challenge for composers, who would sometimes revert to using the human voice in a more conservative fashion.  Luigi Nono's interest in using vocals seems tied with his interest in narrative — his pieces often convey pointed political messages (from what I can tell without understanding the words), and he uses lyrics to help convey the meaning.  His vocalists borrow from classical traditions and at times pull toward musical theater to communicate meaning, and his pieces' structure follows the drama of the vocal lines.  "Como una ola de fuerza y luz" uses a series of repeated dynamic builds to create its narrative arc, and the instruments follow the arc of the vocal lines.  On "Y entonces comprendió", the live vocalists interweave with processed recordings of singing.  Sometimes it's confusing to discern where the recording ends and the live performance begins.  While the content is again political, the piece creates a more atmospheric bed with less Western sense of drama.  The sound quality of this 1974 LP is slightly muffled, in part because 60 minutes of music were fit on a single LP.  The album cover seems to be trying to fit in too many ideas: a drawing of Nono, a traditional font listing details of pieces and performers, and an image of guns that references the lyrics' political content.