It’s difficult to imagine a more New York composer than John Corigliano or, for that matter, to imagine New York’s musical landscape without him. The son of a long-serving concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Corigliano turns 85 this year and has lived in the city his entire life. There can’t be many pianists who have made it their business to master all of Corigliano’s solo piano music, as well as his Piano Concerto. Philip Edward Fisher, a native of Birmingham, UK, is one who has done so with distinction, drawing on immense technical resources and a wide-ranging spectrum of colour and dynamics, all imbued with the rhythmic vitality this music demands.

All those qualities are on display in the Piano Concerto, among the earlier of Corigliano’s 18 concertante works to date. Fisher’s apt collaborators are David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony, who manage the many instances of dialogue between soloist and ensemble with aplomb. All told, this is a passionate interpretation of a fiendishly difficult score, its four movements characterised by intellectual cohesion and sumptuous sensuality.

The Fantasia on an Ostinato, commissioned by the Van Cliburn Foundation for its 1986 competition in Fort Worth, is a mysterious, beguiling work of truly extraordinary beauty. Eschewing the idea of a virtuoso showpiece, Corigliano chose instead to showcase the performers’ ‘musicality and imagination’. The centre of the piece could be considered aleatory since the performer must choose the number and character of a series of interlocking repetitions. During the ’86 competition, the length of the piece ranged from seven to more than 20 minutes; Fisher clocks in at just over 13. No nuance escapes his attention in this profound interpretation of disarming expressivity. It’s a reading that may replace that of Ursula Oppens (Cedille, 10/11^US) as the recorded standard.

The lyrical Prelude for Paul was written for Paul Sekhri, whom Corigliano describes as a biotech CEO with a love of music so great he has the opening chords of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto tattooed on his forearm. Terse and richly atmospheric, the Prelude manages to quote those iconic chords with remarkable subtlety and grace.

The Étude Fantasy is actually five discrete pieces, commissioned by the Kennedy Center during the US bicentennial on behalf of pianist James Tocco. The first of the five is an immensely resourceful response to the challenges of writing for the left hand alone. The second is all flight and chase but of a delicacy that might suggest fireflies. The quiet beginning of the third étude seems to herald a contemplative contrast, but it’s only a red herring. A veritable explosion ushers in some of the most technically daunting textures of the entire disc. Arrival at the fifth brings a relaxed tempo and subdued dynamics, though harmonies remain as rich as ever.

In Winging It, Corigliano set himself the task of transcribing as accurately as possible a series of improvisations for Ursula Oppens to play in concert. Each is titled with the date of the original improvisation. Fisher captures the moment’s white heat these pieces evoke. Most striking, however, is the second, ‘January 3, 2008’, which seems to explore hallowed ground in a spirit of reverent awe.