John CORIGLIANO (b.1938)
Phantasmagoria – Suite from The Ghosts of Versailles (2000)
[22:04]
Violin Concerto The Red Violin (2003) [38:58]
Michael Ludwig (violin); Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta
rec. Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York, USA. 17–19 October 2008
NAXOS 8.559671 [61:02]
Mining your back catalogue for material for new works has a long and illustrious
history. Every composer from Bach to Elgar has quarried their earlier works
to great effect. But I would speculate that for John Corigliano this revisiting
seems to engage a greater emotional function than simply exploiting usable
music. The act of homage extends to the motivation behind the work. So, although
musically very different the two works presented here are able to be seen
as acts of homage and remembrance on multiple levels. That this seems to be
a pervasive trait, almost imperative, in Corigliano’s work is borne out by
his remarkable Symphony No.1 in part subtitled ‘Of Rage and Remembrance’
and his beautiful early choral setting of Dylan Thomas Fern Hill
which is a nostalgic paean to childhood.
Neither work on this disc is receiving a first recording and I have not heard
any of the competing versions – with a single exception which I will come
to later. The disc opens with the extended suite Phantasmagoria. This
can bee seen as a kind of double-level ‘revisit’. The musical material is
drawn from Corigliano’s opera The Ghosts of Versailles written in 2000.
A key to the structure of the opera is its simultaneous functioning on three
levels of reality involving historical characters from 18th Century
France, literary/operatic characters from the same period, and the gory reality
of the French Revolution. Corigliano delights in weaving into the musical
texture fractured musical quotes identifying characters from Mozart and Rossini
operas and apparently even a Wagnerian theme too. Not having seen the opera
it is hard to know how the spirit of the stage-work has been carried over
into the orchestral suite. John Corigliano contributes the very interesting
liner-notes and he points out the musical sources from the opera for the various
sections of the suite. However, to the listener new to the work such as myself,
it is by definition impossible to recognise themes in that way. Instead you
have an impression of the work as a whole. Certainly, the fragmentary, kaleidoscopic,
hallucinatory quality of the music does create a wonderfully atmospheric sense
of colliding realities. The use of very specific melodic ‘hooks’ is always
somewhat controversial – as a listener you hear the sign but are left speculating
over its meaning. Perhaps in the staged opera they accompany one of the levels
of reality mentioned earlier so their function is motivic. Here in the suite
one admires the way they are woven into the musical fabric without quite knowing
why! Corigliano writes virtuosic and brilliantly complex passages but in both
works I feel his real musical strengths lie in his lyrical reflective writing.
The ethereal gently phasing opening is beautiful in its other-worldly mystery.
I’m not over enamoured of the technical aspect of the recording as a whole.
Not that it is in any way bad but simply short on atmosphere for a disc where
that quality defines most of the music. Too often I find I am hearing individual
instrumental lines rather than a resultant orchestral colour which is surely
as the composer intended. As a guide to how Corigliano achieves his
orchestral effects this is very helpful but it makes it hard for the players
to create as much of a magical mood as this music contains. I do not recognise
the names of the producer/editor and engineer here as Naxos ‘regulars’. Clearly
they have opted for an up-close and personal style; personally I prefer the
minimalist ‘best seat in the stalls’ approach.
My observations about this carry forward into the concerto. Corigliano has
revisited his score for the film ‘The Red Violin’ on numerous occasions. The
completist collector can add to the original soundtrack, The Red Violin:
Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra; The Red Violin – Suite for Violin
and Orchestra; The Red Violin Caprices for Solo Violin; and
the Concerto for Violin & Orchestra ‘The Red Violin’ which is recorded
here. The latter includes the previously mentioned Chaconne as its
first and longest movement. Clearly something about the music, or topic or
associations here fascinates Corigliano. He writes in the liner about memories
– we’re on that remembrance path again – of hearing his father John Corigliano
Snr, in his capacity as famed leader/concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic,
practising concertos at home. He movingly writes of his hope to write a “piece
my father would love to play”. Well, it’s a very fine work indeed and one
I am sure the elder Corigliano would relish tackling even if I suspect he
would raise the occasional eyebrow at the ferocity and complexity of the solo
writing. The expansion of the opening Chaconne into a four movement
full-blown concerto is an exercise in simple pragmatism. The stand-alone movement,
at seventeen minutes requiring a large orchestra and significant rehearsal,
is commercially hard to programme; a thirty-nine minute concerto much easier.
Not just in length this is by far the more important and weightier work on
the disc. The suite is just that – an interesting chip off a bigger block.
The concerto revisits earlier material but with dramatically more significant
musical results.
The soloist here is Buffalo Philharmonic’s own concertmaster – again you can’t
help but think that Corigliano Snr. Would have approved – Michael Ludwig.
He made a very powerful impression with his recording of the two Dohnanyi
Violin Concertos on Naxos again conducted by JoAnn Falletta. That they
have a good rapport is clear here with a performance full of fire and passion.
As far as the Chaconne is concerned Naxos comes into competition with
themselves. Chloe Hanslip recorded this as a companion to the Adams Violin
Concerto conducted by Leonard Slatkin and the RPO. On an already stunning
disc the Chaconne is the standout performance and good though Ludwig
and Falletta are Hanslip and Slatkin are finer. In part this is again due
to the recording. Try the very opening of the work – track 2. In Buffalo,
Ludwig’s violin is close and then the woodwinds rising skirls do not flow
together and mingle with the harp and percussion – each line remains resolutely
independent. Although it does not say as much I am sure I heard the odd extraneous
audience noise so I assume this ‘live’ recording accounts for the close-miked
nature of the sound; some players really are sitting in your lap particularly
when listened to on headphones. Conversely the violin sections sound relatively
recessed although this might be a kind of aural illusion caused by the proximity
of the wind and brass. Hanslip and Slatkin in the hands of master producer
Tim Handley and engineer Mike Hatch recorded at Abbey Road Studio 1 – create
far more instant atmosphere yet later in the movement percussion and brass
blaze with glorious body and power. It’s not that the Buffalo engineering
is bad – not at all – the other version is simply better. And at the very
highest level the same has to be said of Ludwig. He plays the work throughout
extremely well – it is only when a direct side by side comparison with Hanslip
is made is that you realise she has that tiny virtuosic edge that allows her
playing to have an extra degree of lyrical freedom and ease. I come back to
my instinctive sense that it is this quasi-vocal lyricism that lies at the
heart of Corigliano’s music – try from around 3:30 into the opening movement,
to my ear Hanslip is gentler, sweeter, more nostalgic – a wonderful passage.
The second movement Pianissimo Scherzo suffers most from the unatmospheric
recording. In the liner Corigliano writes that “the dynamics are soft, but
the action are wild and colourful”. Listened to at the same levels as the
first movement little of the playing registers as truly quiet instead the
orchestration comes across as rather heavy. In this performance this was the
movement that made the least impression. The third movement Andante Flautando
is simply gorgeous from beginning to end – romantic music in modern guise.
There is real skill in the way Corigliano has grafted onto the totally viable
first movement three further movements that in no way feel like afterthoughts
or addenda. The fourth movement Accelerando Finale balances the Chaconne
well again using multi-layered instrumental groups phasing in and out
with each other to create really exciting orchestral timbres. Throughout the
concerto Ludwig dispatches the many furious passages of running 16th
notes / semiquavers with energetic ease – this is where he is at his best.
Corigliano helps bind the work together by bringing back the chordal progression
of the chaconne towards the end – am I alone in hearing echoes of the Peter
Grimes’ Passacaglia here?
The whole concerto as well as the original soundtrack has been recorded by
Joshua Bell but I have not heard them. The Buffalo Philharmonic plays throughout
with confident assurance under JoAnn Falletta’s baton. Assuming these are
live performances ensemble and accuracy in these highly complex scores is
excellent. In the spirit of even-handed fairness I should say I have read
reviews of this disc elsewhere which make a point of praising the engineering
reckoning it to be of award-winning standard. I cannot share that view but
as with so many aspects of music; it is all a matter of taste. The Concerto
is a very impressive work and one written with a great deal of care and love
by John Corigliano – a wonderful tribute to his father. There seems to be
a run of very fine contemporary violin concertos at the moment – I’m thinking
here especially of the one by Matthew Hindson that partners on disc the Red
Violin Suite performed by Lara St. John and another by Tommie Haglund
called Hymns to the Night which in a neat piece of symmetry was first
performed on the violin which is the actual red violin. The Haglund concerto
in particular is a major work of enormous power – there is a recording I have
yet to hear. This Corigliano Concerto is right up there and hopefully its
appearance on the Naxos with the benefits of distribution and affordability
that brings will ensure many more music-lovers will get to hear this powerful
and compelling work.
Nick Barnard