Both Aaron Copland
and Leonard Bernstein died in 1990,
and John Corigliano, to a certain extent,
inherited the mantle, or filled the
vacuum left in popular American contemporary
‘classical’ music by the absence of
those two great names. Corigliano is
unapologetic and resourceful in his
use of music from the past, and the
ghosts of Beethoven and others pop up
on a regular basis. Phantasmagoria
is a suite derived from Corigliano’s
opera The Ghosts of Versailles,
which Norman Lebrecht described as ‘a
great night out, but hardly a momentous
work of music theatre’. If Phantasmagoria
is anything to go by, the opera
is indeed full of wonderful things,
but experienced classical/contemporary
music fans won’t be hearing anything
they haven’t heard before. Dreamscape
dripping violins like Dalí’s
soft watches, iridescent bowed percussion,
harp and winds contrasting with grumpy
scraping basses, bassoons and bass-clarinet
or twittering birdsong flutes introducing
different characters and scenes in the
opera.
With the music ranging
from the sublime to the silly, the most
impressive thing is the orchestration,
which is indeed ‘glittering, pitch-dark,
kaleidoscopic and inclusive’ as the
booklet notes describe.
To Music is
a compact dismemberment of Schubert’s
lied, ‘An die Musik.’ Dark chorale strings
are topped by Panufnik-like trumpets,
concluding with a musical landscape
which for me is Hollywood’s "at
the hero’s graveside" film music.
Fantasia on an Ostinato famously
uses a moment from the slow movement
of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony in,
as the composer states, an attempt "to
combine what I felt were the attractive
aspects of minimalism with convincing
architecture and emotional expression."
Indeed, listeners need not expect the
kind of ostinati which Steve Reich uses:
the opening is slow and atmospheric,
with Beethoven’s funereal basses being
suggested as much as stated. The major-minor
aspects of the Beethoven theme are explored
and extended, developing toward a(n
anti)climax in which it is finally stated
in full, but with some solidly homespun
Americana along the way. Comparing this
version to Leonard Slatkin’s with the
Saint Louis S.O. on RCA there is not
a great deal to choose between them.
I prefer Eri Klas in the quieter moments,
with his more liquid sounding woodwinds
and shimmering strings. While Slatkin
can compete with an equally symphonic
noise with the tuttis, I get more chills
and thrills with this new version.
Three Hallucinations
begins chillingly with de-tuned
pianos, glissandi and high string textures.
This piece is drawn from Altered
States, Corigliano’s first film
score, which accompanies a tale of a
scientist’s time-travelling, drug-induced
fantasies. While the work is in essence
a pastiche collection of the ‘scary’
music effects we all know and love there
are many things to enjoy, such as the
dripping vibrato of a Hammond Organ,
and some wildly distorted references
to tunes such as the ‘Rock of Ages’.
John Corigliano’s music
is approachable and, for the most part
effective and entertaining. He is something
of an eclectic, but we’ve become used
to this with American composers such
as John Adams. At his best his noises
can hold their own in any modern music
collection, and at least his music isn’t
ridden with artificially imposed intellectual
pretension. Ondine have something of
a coup in having orchestral world première
recordings of Phantasmagoria and
Three Hallucinations, both of
which are worthwhile additions to the
catalogue. Combine this with the excellent
playing of the Tampere Philharmonic
and a superb recording, and I have to
give this CD the full thumbs up.
Dominy Clements
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Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra/Eri Klas 
