the open string sonority of blue cathedral john cage

#The open string sonority of blue cathedral john cage plus#

This piece was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to join four others at the turn of the century. At the end of 36 minutes, the listener is breathless with excitement.Īlso on this CD is Corigliano’s “Vocalise,” a combination of Hila Plitmann’s wordless but rich soprano with orchestral and electronic accompaniment.

The conjuring in this piece is the percussionist’s ability to draw music from wood, metal and skin, materials that each get a cadenza and a movement in the concerto. One alert commentator noticed that a violinist was so far into her athletic performance that he whipped out his pocket video device at 1:30 to capture her whacking, hopping and dancing – perhaps also the music she was making.

#The open string sonority of blue cathedral john cage plus#

This recording is a smooth, refreshing and highly musical combination of melodic drums, marimba, vibraphone, bells and other instruments – plus the lush strings of the Albany Symphony - that is almost as interesting to watch as to hear.Īn exhilarating glimpse of Dame Evelyn in action, dressed in blue jeans in this rehearsal, can be seen here with a different orchestra: The aural identity of the player “is lost among the myriad bangs, crashes, and splashes of the percussion arsenal”, he writes in his very frank liner notes.Ĭorigliano and Dame Evelyn strive in this recording to break new ground and ensure that the melodic interest rests not with the orchestra but with the “arsenal” of percussion instruments. But his view of other attempts at concertos in which percussion is the main focus is that they can be “terrible”. Percussion, he believed, can be “wonderful” if its role is limited to coloring orchestral texture or to accent sonorities.

“My only reaction was horror,” he recalls, upon receiving the invitation to compose what became the other-worldly three-movement “Conjurer” concerto (Naxos 5.559757). Dame Evelyn Glennie works wonders with her mallets, hammers and her bare hands in a new CD of John Corigliano’s percussion concerto – a piece that he initially hesitated to undertake for fear that it couldn’t be done.