Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Have you heard of the Corigliano Etude Fantasie?

This post is to prove my teacher wrong He said (and I quote), while holding up five fingers in his left hand, "There are about five people in the world who have heard of the Etude Fantasie."

At that moment, I thought hmmm this couldn't be. So, I'm posing this as an open question to this forum. And if more than five people say yes then my teacher is wrong *wink wink*

So, have you heard of the Etude Fantasie? Have you heard it before? Any thoughts, opinions?

I have heard of it through this forum =D

I sightread it after having played the piano for only six months. That was before the piece was written. Can anyone top that?

Phlebas:

That's some trick. So you read Corigliano's mind?

I have heard of it, but again, only through this forum.

This piece has become very trendy over the last 10 years. I suspect that every pianist in New York has heard of it, and most have heard it.

I fold.

I've also only heard about it through this forum.
and I'm dying to hear it soon..
when will someone post a recording????
when??

I heard it played in the semis of the '89 Cliburn competition. An overpowering, fascinating piece. I'm sure it's been recorded by now -- have you checked Amazon or Tower?

It's so hard.

I have a recording by Hough (on Hyperion, called "New York variations", includes Copland, Weber and Tsontakis as well), it's pretty spectacular... It claims to be the first recording of this piece

I get to hear it live on the 18th

Yes, I've heard of it, and listened to it a few times. I think that Lemon Pledge has a point that this is actually a fairly "trendy" piece in competitions nowadays, it seems to be programmed fairly often at high levels.

To those who have learned/studied this piece: did you find it worth the effort involved in learning it?

It may be the most frequently performed piano work from the 1970s. I never gave serious consideration to learning it, becuase of the effort/reward imbalance implied by your question.

It's a very attractive piece, though. If I felt that I had the chops to deliver a true virtuoso performance without undue strain, I would have taken it on. Also, one might study it for the purpose of technical development, without ever seriously intending a public performance. . . they are etudes.