The presence of folk music in Berio’s output has been a pervasive one‚ his most performed work‚ Folk Songs (1964)‚ finding stylistic cohesion in its cultural diversity through the ‘created’ input of the composer. Although subtitled ‘Folk Songs II’‚ Voci (1984) is less a sequel to the song­cycle than an elaboration of existing material such as Berio has pursued in his Chemins series of instrumental commentaries‚ albeit with concrete melodic lines replaced by traditional Sicilian melodies. Voci‚ then‚ is an amalgam of Berio’s preoccup­ations. The opening minutes have a restless‚ striving quality‚ as soloist and spatially separated ensembles build up a taut argument of some motivic density. Yet the traditional elements presently come to the fore – notably in the viola’s evocative pizzicatos (12'03")‚ over ricocheting side drums‚ then in a monologue of restrained passion and translucent beauty (14'10"). The second half sees an emotionally rounded synthesis of the abstract and the referential. Kim Kashkashian’s is a more demonstrative approach than dedicatee Aldo Bennici’s (RCA‚ nla)‚ as the more forward placing of the ensembles under the sympathetic direction of Dennis Russell Davies underlines. In short‚ an involving account of an underrated masterpiece. The Sicilian folk miscellany‚ recorded between 1955 and ’69‚ forms an engaging and appropriate transition to Naturale (1986). This choreographic work contrasts an instrumental ‘singer’‚ whose presence is represented by Robyn Schulkowsky’s percussion‚ with recordings of a Palermo ‘storyteller’. The result is fusion of an altogether deeper‚ more imaginative kind than is often the case in the good­intention strewn arena of ‘world music’. Extensive booklet­notes on the composer and Sicilian culture‚ and an interview with Kashkashian round off a stimulating and timely release – of far wider relevance than for admirers of Berio alone.