Corigliano: Pied Piper Fantasy / Voyage

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
John Corigliano is one of America's finest living composers, best known outside the classical-music world as the composer of the film score for Altered States. His music is invariably brilliant in orchestration and rhythmically exciting. The Pied Piper Fantasy is no exception and marks a major contribution to the modern repertoire for the flute. Galway's performance is exceptional. This disc clearly belongs on the shortlist for anyone who loves great flute playing as well as approachable modern music. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Pied Piper Fantasy: Sunrise and The Piper's Song
Pied Piper Fantasy: The Rats
Pied Piper Fantasy: Battle with the Rats
Pied Piper Fantasy: War Cadenza
Pied Piper Fantasy: The Piper's Victory
Pied Piper Fantasy: The Burghers' Chorale
Pied Piper Fantasy: The Children's March
Pied Piper Fantasy: VOYAGE for Flute and String Orchestra

Amazon.com essential recording

John Corigliano is one of America's finest living composers, best known outside the classical-music world as the composer of the film score for Altered States. His music is invariably brilliant in orchestration and rhythmically exciting. The Pied Piper Fantasy is no exception and marks a major contribution to the modern repertoire for the flute. Galway's performance is exceptional. This disc clearly belongs on the shortlist for anyone who loves great flute playing as well as approachable modern music. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

An Unusual Programmatic Flute Concerto.......2000-07-10

According to the liner notes, the "Pied Piper Fantasy" originated with a request from the famous flautist, James Galway, for a flute concerto, for the opening of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra's season in 1980. Well, Corigliani was really not interested in composing another concerto, having done an oboe and a clarinet concerto already. However, his admiration for the flamboyant and charismatic Galway and the occasion got him thinking, and the association of the flute with various "pipes" led him to the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Well, OK, it's a great story, but the piper only gets to play his pipe to charm the rats to lead them away and then to charm the village children and lead them away. Not much contrast for a concerto for a virtuoso flautist! No allegro. So, he decided to add some drama: it surely could not have been so easy to charm all those rats, he notes, "So I had to modify the story a bit, and I included battle scenes between the Piper and the rats and other elements that could set the soloist's fingers racing."

The piece opens sombrely, not quite what one expects for a "Sunrise and the Piper's Song." "The Rats" has some rather nasty sounds. In "The Battle with the Rats," "War Cadenza, and "The Piper's Victory," we find that the Piper, though initially meets with some success, he finds the rats regroup and gather reinforcements. He has to try different tunes before he finds one which will properly mesmerize the rats, only succeeding in the nick of time.

We then find "The Burgher's Chorale," in which the townspeople try to renege on the payment. One can hear them: "Well, we really don't have any problem now." "Prove that you got rid of the rats, perhaps they left on their own. Have you done a Double Blind Test with other rats with your tune against recordings by Jean Pierre Rampal and Aurele Nicolet?" OK, that's not quite Corigliani's story, but it's in the spirit of the original. So, the Piper pulls out a tin flute (yes, the poor soloist has to play a tin flute, too) and a bunch of children all playing flutes, come out and follow him away, or something like that.

The sound is quite spectacular, in keeping with such a dramtic work. It can surely show off your system, if desired!

The CD booklet has a couple of photographs of the bearded Galway, ever the showman, wearing a striking red and gold costume, playing his flute to charm one and all.

The "Voyage" for flute and string orchestra is peaceful and lovely.

The music is not great on an absolute, but it's excellent for this genre of program music, with plenty of atmosphere and drama. As well, the performance and sound quality are first rate.

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