The music of Curt Cacioppo displayed the greatest theatrical range of the bunch in “Philadelphia Diary” [just released on Kuumba Records – see next post], his five-section local musical travelogue for solo piano. His mood ranged from solemn— as in his depiction of the Treaty Elm where William Penn met with the Lenape in 1682— to mock pompous (and funny) in his tone poem on the Masonic Temple.

Perhaps Cacioppo’s finest postcard was the last, a modern-day reflection on Boathouse Row, from the vantage point of the rearview mirror of a car leaving the city on the Schuylkill Expressway. The music describes the cacophony of traffic, the pitter-patter of jazz on the radio and the chatter of traffic reports; then, with a quick glimpse of the reflection of one of this city’s most iconic views, the music drifts into a sweet interlude, a waking dream. Lovely.

Peter Burwasser
Broad Street Review online, Philadelphia