ADVANCES TO BEETHOVEN
In
the composer's Upper West Side flat, surrounded by illustrious
trophies such as Oscars, the Grawemeyer award and even a free place
for the Pulitzer price he just got the day before, Juan José Chuquisengo
and the German music journalist Christoph Schlüren met JOHN
CORIGLIANO,
one of the foremost American musical icons. They worked on
Corigliano's atmospherically rich and strucutrally coherent piano
piece 'Fantasia on an Ostinato', quoting the theme from the slow
movement of Beethoven's Seventh after a long process of allusionary
advances. Juan José proved to be a true master of the coloristic
range which he was
capable to integrate into the continuous process of search for
the true (Beethovenian) theme. They did some work on getting the
utmost plausibility to the finally unveiled apparition of Beethoven,
the giant himself in dark clothes. With choreographic gestures
Corigliano accompanies his verbal explanations about the details
and their function in the form as a complete unity. We are looking
forward to hear Juan José playing this piece in one of
his next recitals and we are justly hopeful to catch a glimpse
of the composer's visionary ways.
