Search - John Corigliano, Emanuel Ax, James Tocco :: Phantasmagoria: Music of John Corigliano

Great performances of generally subdued pieces

Dr. Christopher Coleman | HONG KONG | 11/18/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"John Corigliano may be best known for his First Symphony and his Clarinet Concerto, both terrific and dramatic works--the First Symphony is a programmatic work dedicated to those who have died of AIDS. On a CD titled Phantasmagoria you might expect similar dramatic flights of fantasy, excursions into the bizarre and unexpected. But this CD is for the most part very subdued, even though the common link to the four pieces presented is fantasy. The first work, Fancy on a Bach Air for solo cello, is impeccably performed by Yo-yo Ma, whose gorgeous and intense tone quality keeps an extremely introspective piece interesting--I'd not like to hear this performed by a lesser player. In the liner notes Corigliano presents a moving story of the creation of the piece--it was originally intended as a wedding anniversary present for his friends Robert and Judy Goldberg. Their surname lead him to take the theme from J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations as material; but Robert's death lead to a reconsideration of the work. There is no breastbeating, agonised sorrow in this piece--instead, it is a very slowly paced and subtle hommage to his friend. Corigliano's craftsmanship is impeccable; he is the son of the former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and has been around art music all his life; clearly he is capable of great expressive extremes. The second work on the CD is his Fantasia on an Ostinato, based on the theme of the slow movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, and it also is primarily slow--not at all an effective follower of the first piece. Here Corigliano experiments with some techniques of minimalism. The piece starts and stops over and over, and there is an enormous amount of repetition. Once the piece establishes itself, some six minutes into a 12 minute work, there are some beautiful moments and Emanuel Ax performs up to his usual superb standard. Corigliano's five movement Etude Fantasy for solo piano follows, and finally there is some significant dramatic contrast. James Tocco launches into this piece with all the bravura it deserves and delivers a stunningly forceful performance. This piece is an etude in the true sense of the word, in that each movement is designed around a specific technical problem, and yet each movement is also emotionally and dramatically satisfying. But the second movement reverts so soon to the subdued world of the rest of the disc, and the final movement, also quite slow, brings back some of the repetitious ideas of the previous piece in a way that simply invites tedium. The final work is the Phantasmagoria for cello and piano, played by Ma and Ax, which also begins slowly! This work is based on music from Corigliano's opera, The Ghosts of Versailles. This is the most truly "fantastic" piece here, with hauntingly beautiful timbres from the cello, fragments and allusions to classical opera, and abrupt changes in character, tempi, and dynamics. These last two works are the real meat of the CD, but I feel that the programming of the first two works, in the order presented, does them a disservice. But the performances alone justify the purchase of this CD; I'd simply suggest not listening to it at a single sitting."

The fantastic four

Case Quarter | CT USA | 12/29/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"these days when i'm talking with someone about music i enjoy, i find it a whole lot easier to toss out names than genres, like classical or european concert, and by a mutual listing of names form a sense of what we have in common which leads to a respect of suggestions. such a conversation lead to my first listening to john corigliano, and returning for a second purchase of one of his recordings, this one, also prompted by the iconic name yo-yo ma. i'll listen to just about any piece of music listing his name.



the linear notes on phantasmogoria serve as a guideline for a deeper exploration of a fantasia. part of the definition of fantasia included in the notes reads 'fanciful, irregular composition not cast in strict form'.



a lot of what i listen to can fall under the category 'irregular'. music for me must serve double-duty. it has to be something, when i have time, i can sit down and listen to as a complex composition, and corigliano's notes provide that guideline, particularly helpful since i'm out of my league when it comes to understanding 'classical' music on a sophisicated, learned level, i listen to what i like, and i like what i hear on this recording, the learing process comes later, that is, if i care to learn about why i like what i like, which isn't necessary. music plays nearly constantly in my house, so as i'm involved in activities and non-activities around the house, the music has to be pleasing, whether at any moment i've aware of it or not, and i appreciate surprises, musical notes that startled and delight in a piece of music i've heard over and over again. example, listening to the title piece, phantasmagoria, during the christmas season, and hearing four sharp notes, and stopping whatever i'm doing, recognizing 'joy to the world', and maybe that was the 'tristan chord', but it sounded to me like 'joy to the world'. so i'll have to listen to wagner's opera again, and listen for the tristan chord.



corigliano also describes his phantasmogoria as ghost music. that requires another sitting for me some day.



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