aworks :: "new" american classical music

String Quartet (1995). John Corigliano /best from the shards/

Russell Platt has some good capsule reviews in the New Yorker of his picks for best classical recordings in 2007. Included is Corigliano: Music for String Quartet:

Half magus, half magpie, this quintessential New York composer assembles works of piercing tenderness from the shards of twentieth-century music. The Corigliano Quartet plays its signature piece with persuasive devotion; a startlingly mature quartet by Corigliano's student Jefferson Friedman rounds out the album.

I also just found Pediaphon, a web gadget that reads aloud Wikipedia articles. Here's an audio version of the John Corigliano entry (Windows only). The composer's name is mispronounced and the overall effect is choppy but useful nonetheless.

The Ghosts of Versailles (1992). John Corigliano

Daniel Felsenfeld is not impressed with Edward Said's On Late Style: Music and Literature Against the Grain:

I will not go on and on about his scathing indictment of The Ghosts of Versailles for being too recherche...

Phantasmagoria, for cello and piano (2000). John Corigliano

Don Nunn dot com lists his iTunes current "party shuffle."

Here's mine, with annotations:

1. Phantasmagoria, for cello and piano.  John Corigliano. Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma & James Tocco. I found this in the Amoeba used bargain bin on the floor and bought it for Fancy on a Bach Air.
   
2. Days. Train. A year ago, I liked Train.  Six months ago, I changed my mind.  But they are creeping back...
   
3. Etudes For Piano Vol. I - Etude X. Philip Glass. Etudes For Piano Vol. I, No. 1-10.  As always, he composes better than he plays.
   
4. Symphony No.3 (1939). Roy Harris. Bernstein. New York Philharmonic.  My current favorite American symphony.
   
5. Aquarius [Version 3]. Boards of Canada. Peel Sessions. My current favorite Scottish group named after a North American country.  No, seriously, I like BOC a lot.  I vaguely remember that Peel is some TV or radio guy in the UK who hosts groups, but that's about all I know.  I found a BOC site that quotes Karlheinz Stockhausen on  the era of Aquarius.  All this may be related to the Fifth Dimension song.
   
6. 3. Metamorphosis, for piano. Glass. Karis, Aleck. Piano Music of Philip Glass. Glass is not my favorite composer and yet he shows up again.
   
7. Why Does Someone Have to Die? Philip Glass.  The Hours. Haven't seen the movie or read the book but like the soundtrack.
   
8. 4. Metamorphosis, for piano. Glass. Karis, Aleck. Piano Music of Philip Glass.  Karis is a superior pianist.
   
9. You Do Something To Me. Sonny Rollins. The Bridge.   I recently heard this album for the first time since high school and it was as good as I remembered.
   
10. Greyhound (Remix). Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Experimental Remixes. I'm a little surprised I still like this.
    
11. Section IIIA. Steve Reich.  Music for 18 Musicians. It's probably the most popular minimalism work and for some reason, I only own the original recording.
    

Fancy on a Bach Air (1997). John Corigliano

Joshua Kosman reports on the Music@Menlo's plan to provide a pre-concert CD of program notes, complete with musical clips of both the Bach original and Corigliano's new take on the opening of the C-Major Cello Suite.