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Album Notes
This film score got an Oscar 2000 award for the "Best Original Score."
There were praised performances of 'The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra' long before the movie of the same name opened. The 'Chaconne' constitutes a sort of "bonus track" on the soundtrack album, but there is much more to be heard of Corigliano's power and breadth in the score itself. It can be appreciated on its own merits, as much as a teaser for or souvenir of the fine film by French-Canadian director François Gerard, who tells the fictional story of a superbly crafted instrument whose tragedy-tinged lifetime stretches across three centuries and five countries.
The score is principally constructed around two unforgettable themes, the most prevalent first heard as a vocalization by the 17th century Italian violinmaker's wife Anna, shortly before her death, and then hauntingly on the violin (superbly played throughout the score and at the 'Chaconne's' premieres by soloist Joshua Bell). The "Main Title" theme, introduced by the Orchestra, is halting and portentous, like the dealing of the tarot deck witnessed by Anna. These themes are seemingly reworked by time, place, and circumstance, alongside Corigliano's simulations of High Baroque, gypsy, Red Chinese, and other motifs, and what qualifies as thrillingly dramatic movie music.
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