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ELVIS COSTELLO: Il Sogno (ballet after Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)
– London Sym. Orch./Michael Tilson Thomas (with Peter Erskine, percussion; John Harle, saxophone; Chris Laurence, doublebass)
– DGG CD 00289 471 5772
John Sunier
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Improbable but true: rocker Elvis Costello, who has been developing his classical chops for some years now, has followed his musical curiosity directly into a major length original ballet which he wrote without computers or musical collaborators – even writing half of it directly into the full orchestral score without sketches first! Costello has always had a passion for classical music and has toured with the Brodsky String Quartet, arranging works in a classical style for them and for other chamber groups and small orchestra. He wrote a set of songs for vocalist Anne Sofie von Otter with the Brodsky Quartet.
Costello’s musical curiosity about music has moved him to investigate every idiom imaginable, and a bit of many of them find their way into Il Sogno. These include sweeping Romantic string writing, courtly dance music, jazzy swing sounds, the lilt of folk music, and musical evocations of impending …something. Sometimes the score sounds like very high quality film soundtrack music, which in a way has some affinity with ballet music. There’s lots of drama, color and variety in the score; this is crossover in the best sense of the idea. He also fits in some pre-recorded material. The many different elements all seem to fit together fluidly in unexpected ways; this is quite different from composers such William Bolcolm who suddenly jump from late-Romantic to serial with no warning. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
By the note booklet there’s some interesting use of film projection and other props in the ballet as well as a topless dancer.this could be a very interesting video, and probably will be eventually. Tilson Thomas is an old hand at this sort of musical diversity, having worked under Leonard Bernstein. He was taken with Costello’s creative energy and worked with him closely in premiering the ballet at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC. The recording is excellent for 44.1 CD. A world premiere recording and a fascinating musical take on Shakespeare.
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