John Corigliano – Mr Tambourine Man / Vincent Ho – Gryphon Realms

Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (for amplified soprano and sextet)
I have set only four poets in my adult compositional life: Stephen Spender, Richard Wilbur, Dylan Thomas (whose major works generated the oratorio A Dylan Thomas Trilogy) and William M. Hoffman, collaborator with me on, among other, shorter pieces, the opera The Ghosts of Versailles. Aside from asking Bill to create a new text, I had no ideas.

Except that I had always heard, by reputation, of the high regard accorded the folk-ballad singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. But I was so engaged in developing my orchestral technique during the years when Dylan was heard by the rest of the world that I had never heard his songs.
So I bought a collection of his texts, and found many of them to be every bit as beautiful and as immediate as I had heard-and surprisingly well-suited to my own musical language. I then contacted Jeff Rosen, his manager, who approached Bob Dylan with the idea of re-setting his poetry to my music.

I do not know of an instance in which this has been done before (which was part of what appealed to me), so I needed to explain that these would be in no way arrangements, or variations, or in any way derivations of the music of the original songs, which I decided to not hear before the cycle was complete. Just as Schumann or Brahms or Wolf had re-interpreted in their own musical styles the same Goethe text, I intended to treat the Dylan lyrics as the poems I found them to be. Nor would their settings make any attempt at pop or rock writing. I wanted to take poetry I knew to be strongly associated with popular art and readdress it in terms of concert art-crossover in the opposite direction, one might say. Dylan granted his permission, and I set to work.

I chose seven poems for what became a thirty-five minute cycle. A Prologue: Mr. Tambourine Man, in a fantastic and exuberant manner, precedes five searching and reflective monologues that form the core of the piece; and Epilogue: Forever Young makes a kind of folk-song benediction after the cycle's close. Dramatically, the inner five songs trace a journey of emotional and civic maturation, from the innocence of Clothes Line through the beginnings of awareness of a wider world (Blowin' in the Wind), through the political fury of Masters of War, to a premonition of an apocalyptic future (All Along the Watchtower), culminating in a vision of a victory of ideas (Chimes of Freedom).

Several years after composing the vocal/piano score I orchestrated the work, and some years later transcribed it for Pierrot Ensemble, a chamber group. This is the first recording of the chamber version.
– John Corigliano

Gryphon Realms (for piano trio)
Gryphon Realms is a three-movement work, inspired by the gryphon mythology, that explores the colouristic, virtuosic, and expressive possibilities of the piano trio while highlighting my more personal musical language. To set the stage for the mystical world that the audience will be journeying in, the first movement, “Serpentile”, starts out with otherworldly sounds to convey the vocalizations of a gryphon – roars, hisses, and groans. Emerging from this sonic palette are serpent-like motifs, played by the violin and cello, that represent the slithery movements of the creature’s tail as it emerges from its den. This material is developed throughout the movement while the piano serves as the rhythmic driving force, representing the gryphon taking flight. The second movement, “Gryphonsong”, is a musical portrait of two gryphons singing to one another (as represented by the violinist and cellist) during a moment of courtship. During the middle of this movement, a brief pseudo-improvisatory moment is played by the pianist that is soon followed by an elegiac chorale, played by the violinist and cellist, that drifts in and out like a distant memory. The last movement, “War Dance” is an epic battle between all three musicians that is meant to highlight their virtuoso abilities while capturing the primal energies of three mystical gryphons that they each represent. I am thrilled to have Land’s End Ensemble make this premiere recording of Gryphon Realms. I also thank the Gryphon Trio for commissioning the work.
– Vincent Ho