The Violin Sonata is of course the piece that propelled John Corigliano into the limelight at the age of 25 back in 1963. Its attractions remain—Prokofiev-like melodies coupled with spiky Stravinskian rhythms. Played the way Corey Cerovsek plays it here, the work has lost none of its freshness. Indeed, considering what most music sounded like in 1963, the piece is far more at home now.
His series of 5 Etudes brought him into the big league as far as I am concerned. These marvelous, mischievous, mysterious pieces strike at you with an unflagging deception and are constantly leading down paths you think you don’t want to traverse, but are later glad you did. Just listen to the first, ‘For the Left Hand Alone’, and see if the quirky six-tone row doesn’t make you think you are in for some sort of Schoenbergian ride before developing into a wonderfully accessible tonal work with lush pianistic sonorities. The work ranks right up there with the aforementioned Schoenberg Op. 23 and 25 piano pieces, and the Ligeti Etudes as supreme modern examples of the art of piano writing.
The Fantasia on an Ostinato has been recorded many times before, including a sterling effort recently on DGG by Helene Grimaud. This one ranks with it, though I do perhaps like the DGG ambiance a little more. The Chiaroscuro is for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart. Before you run off and hide in a closet, you should know that Corigliano uses the sonorities and the inherent beauties in this setup to full advantage. He is not playing a B-flat on both pianos simultaneously, but instead uses the distinct tuning to his advantage to create some wonderful sounds with a soul and punch that only emphasizes the natural harmonic tendencies of the instrument—and there are some exquisite impressions offered from the massed sound of two pianos.
There is no better introduction to the composer’s smaller-scale works than this one. Black Box has given us a clean, though perhaps a trifle close acoustic. Andrew Russo needs to show no credentials for this music, and the others follow in his tracks.
— Steven Ritter
