Customer Reviews

Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man; Seven Poems of Bob Dylan; Three Hallucinations

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Scoring poetry has had a long tradition, whether for art songs in classical music or for religious rites. Each poem challenges the classical composer to create music to reflect themes and specific phrases, producing a series of miniatures often of great variety. The American poems of Walt Whitman, for instance, were scored by John Adams, Howard Hanson, and Vaughan Williams, and those of Emily Dickinson were the focus of works by Aaron Copland and John Adams. The songs of the young Bob Dylan still have great appeal because of their poetry, besides the social and political commentary, and with this album they are elevated to high art in the hands of John Corigliano, who states that he was not familiar with the songs (hard to believe as he was age 30 in 1968) and reached his compositions solely through the written lyrics. Of course, the listener MUST forget about Dylan's original tunes, though strongly etched in the mind; something composers of Whitman et al. poetry need not be concerned. The result is a short series of wonderfully interesting music, full of orchestral color and mood and here nicely performed by soprano Hila Plitmann and the Buffalo Philharmonic. The second set of music are three religious "hallucinations"...wonderful title!....that also demonstrate the excellent orchestral abilities of Corigliano, who deserves more public attention beyond his popular Red Violin. Throw in Naxos budget pricing and you have a most splendid purchase. Buy it for your kids and enjoy their reactions!

I had the good fortune to hear Mr Tambourine Man in concert at the Cabrillo Festival in 2007. It was enthusiastically received. The performance under Falletta is superb, Hila Plitman is terrific, and the sonics are top notch.

For me, the setting of "Blowin' in the Wind" is worth twice the price of the CD. Taking its cue from "One Ever Hangs" from the Britten War Requiem, with a frighteningly ominous descending accompaniment, Corigliano's treatment will blow away your memories of Dylan's way of doing it, and make you write your last will and testament.

This song cycle of Corigliano affirms his status as one of the greatest living American composers. Not to be missed!

If you haven't read the information before, the major part of this CD (and it's featured composition) is a series of seven of Bob Dylan's lyrics (here called "poems", though Dylan never meant them as such) set to a musical score by composer Corigliano, who - surprisingly - says he never heard sung before. (Yeesh, is there ANYONE in the world who has NEVER heard ANYONE sing "Blowin' in The Wind"?? Really??)

In addition to "BitW" there are other popular Dylan compositions ("Mr. Tambourine Man", "All Along The Watchtower") as well as less familiar ones ("Clothes Line", "Chimes of Freedom").

The concept is interesting, that's for sure. I did like the composer's musical settings, but had a hard time with the vocals sung by "Amplified Soprano", Hila Plitmann. In fact, I had to refer to the lyric booklet a few times to even guess which song she was singing. I'll admit I'm not a big fan of sopranos, and I listen mostly to folk, jazz and EARLY pop music, as well as film scores, but I wanted to give this album a chance. It lost my attention after one playing and I can't see playing this piece often.

The last third of the disc (15 minutes worth) was based on the composers score for the film "Alterted States" and I found this much more interesting, and will certainly return to those tracks again.

Certainly Naxos low retail price makes this a CD you can try and not break the bank. Amazon has "samples" of the tracks to hear so you can get the idea as to whether this is something you want to hear more of. And I'm certainly glad that Naxos recorded these pieces - as they have done with many "overlooked" classical compositions. It should be documents and I'm sure Dylan completists will want this in their collection.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

I've heard most of these pieces performed previously, live at the Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz, CA. There, Amy Burton, a soprano who regularly appears with the Metropolitan Opera, was the featured vocalist on Corigliano's TAMBOURINE MAN. I liked Amy's voice and interpretation much better than the woman on this recording. This woman seems much too percussive, overly dramatic, and quite pushy with her tone; almost as if she was singing a Torchy, Blues song down in New Orleans. Amy,on the other hand, is much more musical, tender, and seductive. I guess it boils down to ones likes or dislikes. In any event, I have no problem whatsoever with the instrumental portions of this recording. I really like the music of America's Dean of Composers, John Corigliano. I would recommend this CD to anyone who cares for Serious Contemporaneous Classical music, especially that of Mr. Corigliano. Gordon Wilson, Ariz.

It is just too hard to divorce these settings from Bob Dylan's originals. I actually found it somewhat disorienting.
I kept hearing the originals in my head while listening to these settings. If you are not a fan of Bob Dylan, then these might work for you. I would only rate this one star for me, but gave it two more because I felt I was not able to fairly judge the work.

If I had never heard of Bob Dylan, I would have merely found this song cycle cliched and overwrought. But to know the original songs and hear this is like watching a grotesque accident, brilliance transformed into bathos.