- John Corigliano
How Like Pellucid Statues, Daddy (1994)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
Programme Note
Composer Note:
In reading John Ashbery’s poem, No Longer Very Clear, I was struck by the contrasting imagery in the adjacent phrases “How like pellucid statues, Daddy, Or like a…engine.”
The frozen translucent statues seemed to me to be a marvelous foil for the pulsating hot energy of an engine – both images, as seen through the eyes of a child, readily evoked musical ideas.
The unique sound of double reeds seemed at once to be the right choice, and fulfilled a desire I have always had to write for multiple bassoons.
The work utilizes row techniques, and is in two parts – the first a picture of the frozen pellucid statues, and the second, an aural portrait of the energy and acceleration inherent in the words “an engine.”
—John Corigliano
In reading John Ashbery’s poem, No Longer Very Clear, I was struck by the contrasting imagery in the adjacent phrases “How like pellucid statues, Daddy, Or like a…engine.”
The frozen translucent statues seemed to me to be a marvelous foil for the pulsating hot energy of an engine – both images, as seen through the eyes of a child, readily evoked musical ideas.
The unique sound of double reeds seemed at once to be the right choice, and fulfilled a desire I have always had to write for multiple bassoons.
The work utilizes row techniques, and is in two parts – the first a picture of the frozen pellucid statues, and the second, an aural portrait of the energy and acceleration inherent in the words “an engine.”
—John Corigliano