For all the hand-wringing over the decline of classical music in the U.S., that country's publicly promient contemporary composers are increasingly gaining hearings around the world. This disc could serve anyone as an introduction to the music of John Corigliano, whose sympathetic treatment of the violin may derive from his status the son of a longtime New York Philharmonic Orchestra violinist. The "Music for Violin and Piano" subtitle of this disc is accurate only in a broad sense; after two duo works come a piece for ...
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For all the hand-wringing over the decline of classical music in the U.S., that country's publicly promient contemporary composers are increasingly gaining hearings around the world. This disc could serve anyone as an introduction to the music of John Corigliano, whose sympathetic treatment of the violin may derive from his status the son of a longtime New York Philharmonic Orchestra violinist. The "Music for Violin and Piano" subtitle of this disc is accurate only in a broad sense; after two duo works come a piece for piano solo and another for a solo violin. The program samples several aspects of Corigliano's output, from his youthful Sonata for violin and piano, very much in the vein of his conservative conservatory models, to a pair of works derived from the score for the Red Violin, which has been a profitable lode of music for the composer. The Fantasia on an Ostinato (1985) is more often heard in its orchestral version, and it takes a bit of mental adjustment to get the sound of Beethoven's...
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