Grand Chromatic Fantasy (Symphony for 3 Pianos) at HCMF
Creative Tourist
Georgian composer Mikheil Shugliashvili conceived Grand Chromatic Fantasy, his masterwork, in the 1970s – over an extended period of four years. It was a long process, and for good reason: Shugliashvili was writing the most important music of his life. It came in a period of dramatic stylistic upheaval – he had always been a misunderstood avant-garde composer, but during the 70s he took a nosedive, eschewing all stylistic traditions and reaching for musical extremes. Grand Chromatic Fantasy is his most memorable piece. It’s the most dread-inducing thing you’ll hear this year – an hour-long epic of clustering catastrophes.
