Customer Reviews

John Corigliano: String Quartet; Snapshot: Circa 1909; A Black November Turkey; Friedman: String Quartet No. 2

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

 

 

Up front, I have to state that I am a fan of John Corigliano and of the Corigliano String Quartet. I've listened to this recording a number of times since i got it, and it never fails to reward listening. Each time I find more nuances and associations, and I remain very impressed with both the quality of the recording and of the playing. This is the kind of music that gives contemporary 'classical' music a good name: it is clearly modern, yet deeply informed by a thorough knowledge of classical traditions (listen for resonances of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue in the Fugue movement of the String Quartet) and the world we live in, and it is music that is full of emotion and intelligence, expressed in a truly contemporary idiom. Wonderful.

This is a superb recording of contemporary chamber music. The snapshot on the cover, of Corigliano's father and uncle, is the basis for Snapshot: Circa 1909, a winsome and agreeable work. The big number on this CD is Corigliano's Quartet. It wasn't until the second time I listened to it that I began to sense its design. The opening makes striking use of mutes for the whole ensemble, producing an effect that is both eery and meditative. The central Nocturne was inspired by a night in Morocco, and you even can hear the call to worship from the mosques. The work ends by just sort of slipping out of focus and then stopping. The playing, in this virtuoso composition, does great credit to the members of the Corigliano Quartet. They were recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a familiar venue for fine sound engineering, which, courtesy of producer David Frost, is what we have here. Jefferson Friedman's Quartet No. 2 is a real find. Friedman, a former student of Corigliano, was 24 when the Quartet was written. It is full of energy and fine lyric content as well. There is no doubt that this young composer has a real voice. I have not heard the Cleveland Quartet's recording of the Corigliano Quartet, but anyone looking for a budget priced CD of recent American music for string quartet should be very satisfied with this recording.