CAML Review / Revue de l'ACBM (Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres / Association canadienne des bibliothèques, archives et centres de documentation musicaux)

Stephen, J. Drew

 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  43, NO. 2 (AUGUST / AOÛT 2015) PAGE 47 
The Hallelujah Effect: Philosophical Reflections on Music, Performance Practice, and 
Technology.1By Babette Babich. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2013. xv, 307 pp. ISBN 
978-1-4094-4960-7.  
 
Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is a song with an unusual and complicated performance history. 
Whereas the initial recording by Cohen in 1984 was largely ignored and little known, many 
subsequent cover recordings by different artists have achieved high levels of critical and 
popular success and are often assumed to be the authentic original versions. Many listeners 
even hold special connections to these cover versions that define their understanding of the 
song. For me, it is the haunting performance by Jeff Buckley on his 1994 album Grace. For my 
eight-year-old daughter, it is the version of the song by Rufus Wainwright on the 2001 
soundtrack album from the movie Shrek. For many Canadians, it is the riveting live 
performances by k.d. lang at the Canadian Juno Awards in 2005, the Canadian Songwriters Hall 
of Fame ceremony in 2006 at which Cohen was inducted, or the opening ceremonies of the 
Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. For Babette Babich, the defining moment came during a 
game of what she calls YouTube poker on Facebook: in response to a friend’s enthusiasm for 
the Shrek “Hallelujah,” Babich “saw her Rufus Wainwright post and raised it by a k.d. lang” (25). 
Even though Babich was aware of Cohen’s original version, the exchange prompted her to 
explore her response to the performance by lang, the working efficacy of media access and its 
ability to separate the song from the author, and the breadth of influence of the original that 
works backwards and forwards on other versions. In turn, this initiated her meditation on the 
nature of music in the context of today’s network culture, a phenomenon she identifies as the 
Hallelujah effect.  
Although the title of the book is taken from a song by Leonard Cohen with a specific 
performance by k.d. lang as a defining event, Babich’s focus is not on popular music. She admits 
that she is “less a pop music fan than many others” and places herself “on the low end of the 
scale” in terms of her knowledge of this music (22). Instead, it is ultimately a book on music and 
philosophy in which Babich uses lang’s performance of Cohen’s song to extend her 
philosophical considerations into other areas.  
The organization falls into three main divisions separated by interludes. The first division 
addresses Cohen’s song, its rise to popularity through the various channels of social media, and 
the way k.d. lang comes to represent its living embodiment through the dramatic realization of 
her performances. Babich considers various performance practices to explore issues of voice, 
                                                            
 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. 
 
 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  43, NO. 2 (AUGUST / AOÛT 2015) PAGE 48 
gender, and sexuality as Cohen’s expression of male desire is reinterpreted through the 
subversive eroticism of lang’s lesbianism. From here Babich turns, in the second division, to 
Adorno’s account of the culture industry as it is experienced through modern technological 
mediation. This allows her to shift Adorno’s theories of reproduction from radio broadcasts to 
the modern equivalent in social media. In the final division, Babich concludes with Nietzsche’s 
writings on music, the nature of tragedy, and Beethoven in order to reflect on the meaning of 
music between antiquity and the present day. As Babich explains, “it is Nietzsche’s 
extraordinary and complex conception of the becoming-human of dissonance that drives this 
exploration of the Hallelujah effect” (16). 
It should be apparent from the above summary that this is an ambitious book. Babich connects, 
by way of Nietzsche and Adorno, the ideals of ancient Greek tragedy and the practices of music 
or mousiké techné to a performance of a Leonard Cohen song by k.d. lang as mediated through 
social media. She draws on a dizzying array of analytical disciplines that include gender and 
cultural studies, sociology, musicology, music theory, phenomenology, acoustics, semiotics, 
and, of course, a rich range of philosophical approaches. Given this broad scope, one wonders 
at the audience for the book. As Babich concedes, “readers whose interests do not run to 
Nietzsche’s musings about the archaic ‘spirit of music’ (and its relation to the tragic work of art, 
ancient and modern) may and will certainly leave off reading in advance of the movement of 
this book to its third division” (15).  
Overall, this is a thought-provoking book that seeks to understand our current media culture 
within a philosophical context. Babich’s observations and conclusions are compelling, but the 
book is not without difficulties. These “philosophical reflections” include personal remarks and 
opinions, many detours, and loose threads that are not always drawn together. The writing is 
often entertaining but it is seldom straightforward. Babich refers forwards and backwards 
throughout the book, and tangential lines of thinking often continue into the lengthy footnotes. 
One must read with a fair amount of agility just to follow her arguments. Another difficulty is 
that Babich shifts effortlessly and often among disciplines and intellectual approaches. To 
follow and appreciate the discourse fully requires a rigorous intellectual background covering 
popular culture, gender and sexuality studies, various strands of philosophy, and a basic 
understanding of music theory. Specialists who are deeply interested in the topic—not just 
Leonard Cohen and k.d. lang, but the role of their performances in expressing meaning in 
music—will find this an engaging and rewarding book. I suspect that for many others, it will be 
a daunting experience. 
 
J. Drew Stephen 
University of Texas at San Antonio 


The Hallelujah Effect: Philosophical Reflections on Music, Performance Practice, and Technology (Book Review)

Based on a roundtable discussion at ACRL 2015, this article explores the benefits and challenges of showcasing and celebrating the creative output of our communities. Such ventures serve the dual purpose of highlighting the contributions of our students, faculty, staff and alumni, while establishing the library as a centre for collaboration and cultural enrichment

Wills, Deborah

 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  43, NO. 1 (APRIL / AVRIL 2015) PAGE 10 
Library as Showcase: Reflections on a Roundtable Discussion 
 
By Deborah Wills1 
 
Abstract: Based on a roundtable discussion at ACRL 2015, this article explores the benefits 
and challenges of showcasing and celebrating the creative output of our communities. Such 
ventures serve the dual purpose of highlighting the contributions of our students, faculty, 
staff and alumni, while establishing the library as a centre for collaboration and cultural 
enrichment. 
As academic librarians, we see our libraries at the centre of campus life, and they indeed function as a 
gathering place for research and study. However, our spaces can take a more active role in celebrating 
the creative output of our community members. By inviting musicians, artists, authors and other 
creators and performers into our buildings, we can provide opportunities for education, enrichment, 
conversation and inspiration. Participants benefit from increased exposure to their work and to 
interactions with like-minded peers, while the profiles of our libraries are raised on campus and beyond. 
Events and programs that focus on our creative community members can be powerful marketing tools, 
fostering goodwill and even attracting donors to our libraries. These endeavours also provide 
opportunities for collaboration with academic departments, student associations, alumni, the 
bookstore, the campus art gallery and other community partners. The result is a library more firmly 
embedded in the life of the campus.  
At the conference of the Association of College & Research Libraries in Portland this March, I led a 
roundtable discussion to explore the benefits and challenges of using library spaces to showcase and 
celebrate the creative output of our communities. Joining me were Chris Davidson from Northwestern 
University; Alex Regan from the University of California, Santa Barbara; Brittney Thomas from the 
University of Iowa; and Amy Wainwright from John Carroll University. Each of our libraries has hosted a 
variety of events, including musical performances, exhibits, plays, poetry readings, author celebrations 
and class presentations. While we have found these events rewarding for both our users and our 
libraries, we acknowledged the challenges, and discussed how to balance the competing demands for 
library space, how to market to increase our audience, and how to ensure the relevance of these 
activities for our users and our libraries. 
All involved in the roundtable agreed that such events have both expected and unexpected benefits. We 
all receive positive feedback from participants and notice the energy and excitement generated. Both 
Regan and Thomas mentioned hearing from audience members who have felt personally connected to 
items on exhibit and have come away with new thoughts and insights. At my library, at Wilfrid Laurier 
                                                          
1
  Deborah Wills is Liaison Librarian for Music, Communication Studies, English, Film Studies and Journalism at 
Wilfrid Laurier University Library. 
 
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University, student concerts have led to other performing opportunities for the participants. In addition, 
the library has benefited from the lively photos of events that we use in social media, our annual reports 
and other communications. 
All participants also agreed that having a dedicated space for events in the library is the best approach. 
At her institution, Thomas has the benefit of working within a new learning commons, but most of us 
must carve space from that already used for other purposes without disadvantaging our regular users. 
While many of our users enjoy a music concert or author reading, others find these events distracting, or 
they may resent the loss of study space. Wainwright suggests using the public address system to alert 
users to upcoming events; they may then choose to join in or to move to another area. Davidson 
provides signage well in advance, including directions to quiet study spaces. At my own library, 
performance and exhibit space is near the entrance, to attract users entering or leaving the building. The 
main floor of our library is accepted as a “noisy” area, while our top floor is dubbed “Silent Seven.” 
Promotion is essential to the success of showcase events and can attract new visitors to our buildings 
along with potential donors. Wainwright recommends marketing in “every way possible.” Examples 
include postering, electronic signage, and making strategic use of the web and social media. For those of 
us lucky enough to have dedicated communications staff at the library, or access to professional 
marketing staff on campus, expertise is at hand. However, as Davidson points out, library marketing on 
its own is of limited usefulness. His approach is to act as the “middle man” between students and the 
library, and he has good success when students take charge of their own promotion. He sees the 
library’s role as providing the space and allowing students the responsibility for both the events and the 
marketing. 
Regan believes that the library should provide not just space but also programs with particular meaning 
for the participants. For example, a photography exhibit at her library created personal resonance for 
the students who took part. She finds it rewarding but also time consuming and expensive to engage 
with different campus groups to make such programs successful. 
Thomas has found that partnering with student groups is not always a reliable way to raise an audience 
for events in the library. However, she has had success connecting with faculty and staff on campus. She 
particularly recommends showcasing student work that is connected to a specific class, in part because 
this creates a built-in audience of classmates. In one case, students decided for themselves which of 
their class presentations should be exhibited at the library. Seeing their work showcased outside the 
classroom and in a frequently visited part of campus helped legitimize their efforts in their own eyes and 
in the eyes of their audience. 
At my institution, library promotion has had limited success in building audience. For our Music in the 
Library series, even our inclusion in the Faculty of Music events calendar and on electronic signage at 
the university entrance has had minimal effect. Given the quantity and quality of music on campus and 
in the outside community, we recognize that we are competing for a limited audience and need to make 
our events relevant to our space and our users. For example, for the coming year, we plan to make our 
concerts more informal—to encourage people to move in and out of the space while the musicians 
 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  43, NO. 1 (APRIL / AVRIL 2015) PAGE 12 
perform. Marketing concerts as breaks from study and stress may appeal to our library users. To create 
the right atmosphere, we will try abandoning our rows of seating and replacing them with stand-up 
tables. We will also consult with our “alumni”—those students who have performed at the library in the 
past—and revisit our branding for the series. The use of the term “concert” may itself be problematic.  
While the roundtable did not address the topic of funding, this can be a significant challenge. Some 
events, such as student concerts, may require only a small outlay for refreshments, signage and 
programs. However, more ambitious undertakings, such as a community author celebration, require 
considerable funds to make the events successful and memorable. Each library needs to decide on a 
reasonable budget for such endeavours and to recognize when partners and sponsors will be needed.  
All of these issues point to the value of formulating policies and procedures and establishing an 
evaluation process. We may elect to sponsor an occasional event or embark on full-blown programs. For 
any endeavour, we need to balance the investment of time, money and effort against potential benefits. 
Details will vary from event to event; for example, mounting an art exhibit will require a process for 
selecting artists and installing their work. Establishing a program to celebrate authors will require a 
committee of stakeholders and an appropriate division of labour. In each case, the first task should be to 
establish goals, while considering the audience and purpose. 
That said, when we are showcasing campus creativity, we should also use this opportunity to develop 
our own creative approaches. We should be ready to try new things, to learn from successes and 
failures, to cut losses, and to be open to unexpected benefits. The potential for enhancing the image of 
the library, along with spotlighting our many talented community members, makes such endeavours 
worthwhile. All libraries should feel encouraged to open their doors to campus creativity.  
 
“Music in the Library” concert series, Laurier Library 


Library as Showcase: Reflections on a Roundtable Discussion

Jurkowski, Edward

When Music Sounds: Canadian Cello Music (CD Review)

Hahn, Michelle

 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  42, NO. 1 (APRIL / AVRIL 2014) PAGE 19 
Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG) 2014: Summary  
 
By Michelle Hahn  
 
This year’s MOUG meeting was the one to beat. Along with all of the cataloguing-related 
sessions throughout MLA, 2014 gave attendees a strong picture of the current state of music 
cataloguing in the new RDA world.  
March 31, 2013 marked the official “switch” to RDA at the Library of Congress, though many of 
the testers and other early-adopters made the change even before then. MOUG/MLA 2014, 
almost a full year later, was the first group meeting for the music cataloguing community since 
the change. It was the perfect time for a lot of discussion about music issues in the new 
cataloguing standard. 
The first plenary session of the MOUG meeting addressed the proper etiquette for replacing 
bibliographic records in OCLC. While the presenters gave great insight into the guidelines for 
record replacement, the questions and discussion in the audience gave a good picture of the 
local practices throughout the community for deciding when to create a new record or enrich 
an existing record, and when those changes should be made in a local catalogue vs. WorldCat. 
Following the plenary was the first of the standard MOUG sessions: the “Enhance and Expert 
Community Working Session.” The three main highlights from this session relate to duplicate 
merges, OCLC Bibliographic Formats and Standards updates, and the transition of the Credit 
Program. In the coming months, OCLC will be piloting an effort to allow member institutions to 
merge duplicate records in WorldCat. This will continue efforts by OCLC to increase member-
driven improvements to the collective database. Keep an eye out for required training 
opportunities if your institution is interested in participating.  
Now that RDA is in place, OCLC will be working to make large-scale updates to Bibliographic 
Formats and Standards in order to reflect current practice. Users will begin to see dates of 
revisions at the bottom of sections that have already been updated. Also in the works is the 
implementation of flat-rate cataloguing and lending credits, instead of transaction-based 
credits in OCLC billing. These changes will be reflected beginning with July 2014 invoices. 
                                                          
  Michelle Hahn is the Music Catalog Librarian at Southern Methodist University. She has a B.Mus. from Ohio 
University and an MLS from Indiana University. 
 
 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  42, NO. 1 (APRIL / AVRIL 2014) PAGE 20 
The second plenary session targeted the creation and use of authority records and authorized 
access points in RDA. Because only a fraction of NACO-Music Project participants are creating 
authority records in RDA until more become independent, we are running into more authorized 
access points (AAP; formerly known as main and added entries) for which there is no 
corresponding authority record. Presenters touched on the differences in the way AAPs are 
determined now, and the use of cognates according to RDA rules. 
The other standard MOUG session is the “NACO-Music Project” (NMP) meeting, where 
participants in the NMP get an update on the year’s activity, discuss issues related to the 
project, and learn of upcoming efforts. Of interest to many was the possibility of a new BIBCO 
funnel for music cataloguing, which would increase the efforts of music cataloguers who create 
high-quality, original bibliographic records. 
MOUG programming concluded with “Hot Topics” and “Lightning Talks—Cataloging Challenges 
with RDA.” Both of these sessions tackled some of the intricacies of cataloguing in WorldCat 
and applying RDA to music materials. One highlight of “Hot Topics” was a discussion of the 
application of Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) headings in WorldCat and 
what that may mean for users. Of concern for most was the lack of linkages between FAST 
headings and Library of Congress subject headings, leading to excess duplication without 
collocation in library catalogues. Jay Weitz, OCLC representative, indicated that there may be an 
effort by OCLC to create a meaningful connection between the two in the future. The quick 
presentations during “Lightning Talks” were highly entertaining, culminating with live musical 
entertainment incorporated in Kevin Kishimoto and Tracey Snyder’s presentation on musical 
compilations, which proved to be a crowd favourite. Their information was partially reprised 
(sans vocal interludes) in the recent MLA/ALA sponsored webinar, “RDA for Music: Popular 
Music, Jazz, and World Music Audio Recordings.” 
Those who are interested in the efforts of MOUG and special formats cataloguing should note 
that MOUG will be meeting again in October 2014 as a joint effort with the Online Audiovisual 
Catalogers (OLAC) group in Kansas City, Missouri. Check the MOUG and OLAC websites for 
details. MOUG/MLA 2015 will feature a preconference workshop centered on the use of the 
Library of Congress’ Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT), due to be published in the near future on the 
heels of the publication of LC’s Medium of Performance Terms. 
Presentation slides will be available on the MOUG website in the future: 
http://musicoclcusers.org.  
 


Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG) 2014: Summary

-, -

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Books Received 
  
2013 Almanac of Arts & Culture Programs in Canada / Annuaire 2013 des Programmes Arts et 
Culture au Canada. By Paul Guise. Winnipeg: Culture Consult, 2013. 120 pp. In English and 
French. The 2014 edition is now available from: http://cultureconsult.ca/products.html. 
Opening Windows: Confessions of a Canadian Vocal Coach. By Stuart Hamilton. Toronto, ON: 
Dundurn Press, 2012. 174 pp. ISBN 978-1459705128. $29.99.  
True Tales from the Mad, Mad, Mad World of Opera. By Lofti Mansouri, with Mark Hernandez. 
Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, 2012. 180 pp., ill. ISBN 978-1459705159. $19.99. 
 


Books Received

Senior, Andrew

 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  42, NO. 2 (AUGUST / AOÛT 2014) PAGE 21 
Space, Materials, and Threshold Concepts:  
A Report of CAML 2014 Session E 
 
By Andrew Senior1 
 
CAML Session E: Friday, May 30, 2014 
Carolyn Doi (University of Saskatchewan): “Listening in the Library: Considerations for Space 
and Equipment” 
Becky Smith (Memorial University): “A Binding Experience” 
Laura Snyder (Mount Allison University): “‘Threshold Concepts’ and Information Literacy for 
Music” 
Carolyn Doi (University of Saskatchewan) opened the second Friday morning session with a 
presentation on a Spring 2013 project to revitalize an audiovisual listening space at the 
University of Saskatchewan’s Education and Music Library. Prior observations had established 
the area was underused and, with single-occupant carrels and outdated or malfunctioning 
hardware, was no longer suited to the varied needs and activities of its users—including, for 
example, accommodating laptops and score reading. Beginning with a needs assessment and 
consultation process, the project then focused on transforming the area into a more flexible 
social space, removing the carrels and fostering creativity through added group listening 
facilities, new equipment, software, and comfortable seating. During the presentation, Doi used 
plans and photographs of the space, equipment, and furniture to provide further detail as well 
as to offer helpful information gleaned from the process. She noted that in spite of some 
challenges encountered during project implementation, there was ultimately an observed 
increase in usage, with feedback from students and faculty being, for the most part, very 
positive. A future plan for the space is the proposed addition of tables that were originally part 
of the 2013 project but could not be included at the time. 
In the following presentation, Becky Smith (Memorial University) outlined a new procedure for 
binding and processing scores and parts implemented during 2013 at Memorial University’s 
Music Resource Centre. Historically, score processing had not been a priority and many items—
                                                          
1
  Andrew Senior is an eResources Librarian (Acting) at McGill University. 
 
 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  42, NO. 2 (AUGUST / AOÛT 2014) PAGE 22 
subject to repeated wear and tear—were in varying states of disrepair. Smith highlighted the 
steps taken, such as the examination of 250 high-use items, to identify which material should 
be retroactively processed. As well, she described the priorities established for treating new 
scores going forward, including a small proportion of scores to be sent for professional binding. 
Additional pre-project planning followed: everything from selecting suppliers and costing 
supplies, to establishing workflows, refining binding methods, and providing training for the 
Music Resource Centre staff. Smith noted that finding a space-saving binding design was an 
important aspect that ultimately influenced the decision to employ a clear pamphlet style of 
binder. Scores were prioritized into four categories and work began in the summer of 2013, 
with students successfully binding around 500 scores in a month. To date more than 800 scores 
have been completed to positive response. 
Finally, Laura Snyder (Mount Allison University) explored threshold concepts and information 
literacy with regards to music in the context of the ACRL draft Framework for Information 
Literacy for Higher Education. She spoke of the potential benefits threshold concepts could 
bring to information literacy as they offer new ways to approach the learning process with 
a greater emphasis on conceptual understanding and not simply on skills acquisition. Building 
on the work of Meyer and Land around the transformative, integrative and ritualistic nature of 
threshold concepts, Snyder noted how learning to read music becomes ritual knowledge and 
highlighted how students move through liminal stages in their musical training to become 
musicians. Employing the Limbourg Brothers' painting The Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise 
to propose Adam and Eve's banishment from the Garden of Eden as the “archetypal” threshold 
concept, her observation that Adam and Eve—newly adorned with fig leaves—would, 
henceforth, forever be subject to the exigencies of fashion, brought a moment of hilarity to the 
proceedings. Turning her attention to the ACRL draft framework, Snyder responded to each of 
the draft threshold concepts, such as “Scholarship is a Conversation” and “Authority is 
Contextual and Constructed,” before highlighting what she perceived as an absence of concepts 
relating to primary sources and ethical use of information. She concluded by outlining the 
potential challenges—such as how to avoid over-simplifying complex concepts and how to 
adapt concepts to the current 'one-shot' information literacy practice—as well as the 
collaborative and diverse instructional opportunities presented by the implementation of 
threshold concepts. 
 
 
 
 


Space, Materials, and Threshold Concepts: A Report of CAML 2014 Session E

Complete Issue

Glass Houses, Vol. 2 – Music by Ann Southam (CD Review)

Luyk, Sean

Soldiers of Song: The Dumbells and Other Canadian Concert Parties of the First World War (Book Review)

Gonder, Jon

 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  42, NO. 2 (AUGUST / AOÛT 2014) PAGE 50 
Visions: The Complete Books of Rhapsodies and Fantasias. Piano Music of Constantine 
Caravassilis. Toronto: Centrediscs CMCCD 18613, 2013. Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano.        
2 compact discs (CD 1: 64:55; CD 2: 48:21). Contents: v. 1. The Book of Rhapsodies. Postcard 
from Smyrna (9:56) – …to a Galliform Marionette (5:49) – Visitations (11:23) – Shadow 
Variations on a Theme by Alan Hovhaness (27:24) - Pandora’s Jar (10:23) – v. 2. The Book of 
Fantasias. Soul Ascending (6:03) – Fantasia on the Dies Irae (11:40) – View from Pluto (7:59) – 
Fantasia on the Rising Sun (13:04) – Lumen de Lumine (9:36).  
 
Visions: The Complete Books of Rhapsodies and Fantasias is a recording of piano works by the 
young Canadian composer Constantine Caravassilis (born 1979). These are two assembled sets 
of five standalone compositions, representing Caravassilis’ large-scale cycles for solo piano. The 
exact dates of composition are only provided for Fantasia on the Rising Sun, from 2005 through 
2010, and Lumen de Lumine, 2004. The recordings are accompanied by a substantial booklet 
that proves to be essential to arriving at a deeper understanding of the works and of his 
compositional style, discussed in more detail below. 
The harmonic language used by Caravassilis is decidedly tonal and there is little that might be 
described as harmonic development; however, there are some extended periods of dissonance 
that provide some pleasing contrast. While showing occasional influences from minimalism, in 
general these works are, as Caravassilis himself describes them, obsessed “with melodic 
development through quasi-melismatic variation.” 
The Book of Rhapsodies exhibits a variety of influences that are readily audible, including 
Eastern modality in Postcard, Debussy in Marionette, Scriabin in Visitations, and Schumann in 
Pandora. Structurally, these are not the rhapsodies of Brahms or Bartok. Caravassilis’ approach 
to form is actually more rhapsodic in spirit than either of those masters. Only the Shadow 
Variations pay tribute to what might be called a standard form. In all of the individual pieces, 
there are appropriate contrasts that are evident as each composition unfolds, but the narrative 
style is largely one of gesture and pause, gesture and pause, et cetera. Notwithstanding that 
this approach flirts with being too predictable, the style of writing reflects a good 
understanding of the pianistic idiom, some fine sense of the piano as a coloristic instrument, 
and enough structural contrast so as to avoid being insipid. Perhaps the most effective of the 
Rhapsodies is Pandora’s Jar, in part because it presents some palpable changes in tempo that 
create a strong toccata-like quality and some actual drama.  
The Book of Fantasias is the shorter of the two sets by almost fifteen minutes. One hears fewer 
allusions to other composers, perhaps by design, although in Pluto there are sounds 
reminiscent of the late experiments of Liszt. A repeated note ostinato features prominently in 
the materials of the first, middle, and final pieces, which serves to unify the five movements 
 CAML REVIEW / REVUE DE L’ACBM  42, NO. 2 (AUGUST / AOÛT 2014) PAGE 51 
more notably than what is heard in the Rhapsodies. At the same time, however, it seems to 
work against the various images that the titles are intended to suggest. The most successful 
movement, Fantasia on the Dies Irae, provides an appealing array of motivic and harmonic 
interplay that maintains the thread of the narrative throughout and, although not strictly a 
theme-and-variations, there is enough of that compositional technique present to sustain that 
thread. 
Ms. Petrowska Quilico provides fine interpretations of these works. Her use of colour and pedal 
is penetrating and rich, and she imbues the phrasing of the gesture-pause-gesture-pause with 
enough variety to hold the works together and avoid mannerism. Included in the booklet are 
reproductions of paintings that she has created under the inspiration of these works, which 
provide a visual interpretation of each movement. They are interesting and colorful, but 
inasmuch as they are responses to the music, they do not particularly offer insight to what we 
actually hear.  
On the other hand, Caravissilis’ notes do provide important information that guides the listener 
to a greater understanding. Caravissilis’ characterization of his own style is both informative 
and troubling. Recognizing that he focuses on melody reflects a level of self-awareness that is 
good for any composer to have. It is a valid compositional approach, and one that Caravissilis 
handles adeptly. However, some of his other comments lead, at least for this reviewer, in the 
direction of compositional danger. It is difficult to imagine, for example, Stravinsky or Messiaen 
saying that his work was “driven solely by emotion.” Even more problematic is this statement: 
“there is one other important component in a musical work that cannot be ‘learned’: the 
exploration of form.” One has to believe that form is more than that which “emerges entirely 
from the composer’s intuition and can unfold in a natural, organic way.” Schoenberg’s 
approach to composition, for example, is frequently referred to as “organic,” but there is an 
interior discipline to how he handles progressive development that is anything but “intuitive,” 
and there is a tightness therein that is both essential and audible. I believe that Caravissilis may 
be doing himself a disservice. He has clearly brought considerable compositional discipline to 
the writing of these sets. The fine music on these CDs is worthy of repeated listening and 
performances.  
 
Jon Gonder 
State University of New York at Geneseo 
 


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