Composer Anthony Cornicello (born in Brooklyn, New York, 1964) writes music that blurs distinctions between performers and electronics, timbre and harmony, composition and improvisation, and explores the boundaries of what may be considered post-classical concert music. His music is vibrant and visceral, full of rhythmic energy and harmonic sophistication, and his forays into live electronics have led to exciting combinations of instruments and processed sound. Cornicello’s background as a jazz pianist is evident not only in the rhythmic activity of his music, but also in his constant investigation of the rich sonorities available from a variety of instruments.
He has been commissioned to write music for the Scorchio Electric String Quartet, ModernWorks! (funding from Meet the Composer/ Commissioning Music USA), the Auros Group for New Music, the Prism Saxophone Quartet, the New York New Music Ensemble, David Holzman, the Group for Contemporary Music, and the InterEnsemble of Padova, Italy. His work has also been featured on the Guggenheim Museum’s “Works and Process” series. Cornicello’s works have also been performed by the Chicago Civic Symphony, Parnassus, ALEA III, Composers Concordance, Madeleine Shapiro, Robert Black, among many other outstanding groups and solo performers. His music has been presented as part of the Darmstadt International Festival of New Music as well as the June in Buffalo Festival.
Cornicello’s Second String Quartet has been recorded by the Atlantic String Quartet; the Second Sonata for Piano by David Holzman (Centaur). More recently, his Post-Modern Waltz was recorded by Eric Moe for Albany Records. A portrait CD of Cornicello’s works is scheduled for 2006 release on Albany Records.
As a performer, he has conducted or played piano in his own works on numerous occasions. While a graduate student at Rutgers, he formed and directed the Janus Ensemble, a group dedicated to contemporary music. More recently, Cornicello has begun performing on the laptop, using a variety of interfaces and the Max/MSP program. Those performances, mostly with EEE!, have had a notable impact on his music, as EEE!’s music ranges from hip-hop to experimental noise. EEE! is based at Eastern Connecticut State University, where Cornicello is an Associate Professor and Director of the Electronic Music Lab.
Cornicello received the Ph.D. from Brandeis University, where he studied with David Rakowski, Eric Chasalow, and Martin Boykan. His teachers also include Charles Wuorinen, Gérard Grisey, and Richard Beirach.
His current fields of interest include developing unusual interfaces for live computer music performances, as well as continuing to investigate resonance and spatialization. His recent and current projects (mostly for string instruments and electronics) have been exploring the latter two, and the series of experimental works ReZenant Garden, performed by EEE! have operated on all three areas of interest. Future projects will include works for instrumental groups or soloists and electronics, as well as turntablists.
Cornicello's works are published by C.F. Peters Corporation and APNM, and he is a member of BMI.
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Thursday, February 16, 2006
"Contemporary" Music at Tangelwood
Yes, it's been a while since I've blogged....
So, between watching the nearly 27" of snow fall on West Hartford on Sunday, I took at look at the New York Times. There's an ad for the upcoming Tangelwood season. No surprise, lots of Mozart.
I scanned the page until I found the "Contemporary" concert. As it is, I'm totally disgusted by the fact that they only segregate contemporary music to a single concert, as if to quarantine the horrible plague amongst us. To my utter dismay, I see listed one concert, consisting of an Elliott Carter work ("What Next", his recent opera) and works by Stravinsky and Hindemith.
Let me repeat this. The "Contemporary" concert consists of Carter, Stravinsky, and Hindemith.
This is 2006, right? I haven't found myself in some bizarre time loop.
Let me parse this up:
Carter is the only living composer on the Tangelwood "Contemporary" concert. Stravinsky has been dead for over 30 years, and I'm not sure when Hindemith died. In other words, there are composers who have already made significant contributions to the world of music who were born after Stravinsky died. Not to mention those who came to musical maturity in the last 40 or so years.
Carter is the only living composer on the Tangelwood "Contemporary" concert. I've got to repeat that phrase, so that it sinks in.
Carter is the only living composer on the Tangelwood "Contemporary" concert.
Now, lets remember something about Carter. He's about to turn 100, at least in 2008. He's written a great deal of music, most of it high-quality and received well by new-music critics and composers alike. It's been written about extensively, the subject of many books, and countless doctoral dissertations. It's quite amazing that he's still writing music at an age that if one is still alive, one is happy to get through the day without any major pain or organ failure.
It can be said that he's no longer 'cutting edge'. Certainly, as an iconoclast, he has written music that inspired many composers. Yet, I'm sure that younger composers are turning less and less to him for inspiration. That is fine, as the 'younger composers' (i.e., those under 90) are having a strong influence on emerging composers. It would have been fitting had Tangelwood decided to have a concert of Carter and his students, or people who claim to be influenced by him. But no, Tangelwood has decide to make the "Contemporary" concert not quite contemporary. And yes, I know that Carter's work was written in the last 10 years, but it's the only piece on the program that can be termed contemporary in the largest sense.
I guess we can conclude that Tangelwood has given up on the idea of taking chances. I know they used to have people like Berio there; recently, Tan Dun was the featured composer. Regardless of what you think of those composers, you'll have to admit that they are out there, doing what it is that makes them special.
Yes, Carter is the only living composer on the Tangelwood "Contemporary" concert.
posted by Anthony Cornicello
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