Customer Reviews

William Bolcom - Songs of Innocence and of Experience (William Blake) / Slatkin, University of Michigan School of Music

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When William Bolcom (b. 1938) was a teenager he read and was moved by William Blake's set of 46 poems, 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience,' and vowed that one day he would set them all to music. Indeed, he began the task in the mid-1950s but set it aside until he arrived at the University of Michigan where he has been on the faculty since the early 1970s. He had remembered the utter joy of participating in the chorus in a performance of Bach's 'St. Matthew Passion' while a student at the University of Washington, a performance that called on many of the resources of that university and its community. He says that he wanted the same sort of experience for those who participate in his orchestral Blake song cycle, and indeed this recording comes from just such a production. It uses many of the resources of the wonderful School of Music at the University of Michigan (its orchestras and choruses) as well as musicians from outside the School and community musicians as well, all under the direction of conductor Leonard Slatkin. Add to this the use of professional soloists from all across the musical spectrum (opera singers, a Broadway actor/musician, a folk/blues musician) and you get a mix that includes almost everything but the kitchen sink. This is Bolcom's 'Symphony of (almost) a Thousand,' as it were, as it takes upwards of 500 people to perform. Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium was filled to the max when this performance took place on April 8, 2004.

There has been an buzz about this piece among music-lovers ever since its première in Germany under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies in 1984. In spite of the huge number of performers required (not to speak of the need for a stage director) it has since been mounted a dozen times. And those of us who had wanted badly to hear it but had not been able to attend a performance, had had to make do with bootleg tapes of previous performances. And we hoped and prayed that one day it would be recorded commercially. Our wait is over! And thanks to Bolcom's wisdom, it is on the budget label, Naxos, rather than one of the high-priced labels; thus its 3CDs will not break anyone's budget. Bolcom notes that in these days of the easy ripping-and-burning of CDs privately, it made more sense to issue the performance on a budget label in hopes that more people would simply go out and buy it, rather than ask someone to burn it (illegally, of course) for them. In addition, of course, one would get the complete texts and booklet notes as well. Smart move.

What about the music and the performance? The diction and emotional tone in Blake's poems, as is well known, are extremely variable, from elegant Drydenesque verses to the down-and-dirty vernacular of 1790s London, from songs of purest childlike innocence to poetic harangues about the horrors of the world. Bolcom has supplied music, using all the resources available to a 20th century composer, that mirrors both the diction and the emotional content of the poems. Thus we have the simple lullaby of 'A Cradle Song' (sung deliciously by soprano Linda Hohenfeld) to the bewildered trusting tone of 'The Chimney Sweeper' set to a Salvation Army band accompaniment (and narrated by Broadway actor Nathan Lee Graham, a standout whenever he appears here); from the child's nature poem (of a lost Ant [Emmet] having its way home lit by an obliging glow-worm) of 'A Dream' in a lively atonal orchestral setting and sung expertly by lyric soprano Ilana Davidson, to the corresponding, horrific Webernian 'Little Boy Lost' (sung by soprano Carmen Pelton and the combined choruses) whose Little Boy has no one to help him find his way; from the percussion-accompanied choral Sprechstimme of 'Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright' to the ethereal 'The Fly' sung by string-accompanied children's chorus; from the gentle guitar-accompanied 'Nurse's Song' ['When the voices of children are heard on the green'] sung in her inimitable (and beloved) style by Bolcom's wife, mezzo Joan Morris to the woozy 'The Sick Rose' [eclipsing, in my mind, Theodore Chanler's setting] sung by contralto Marietta Simpson with preternatural calm that nonetheless evokes horror; from tenor Thomas Young whose opening Introduction sets up the expectation that we are in for great things, to soprano Measha Brueggergosman whose rich soprano (and spot-on intonation) is assigned to 'The Lamb' and 'The Blossom,' both set atonally, and baritone Nmon Ford who sings the hieratic 'Hear the Voice of the Bard (Who Present, Past & Future sees).' Well, you get the idea. There is something here for everyone, but more important there is a unity to both poems and music, in spite of the disparate styles, that makes the set a coherent whole.

Assuming Amazon, as it seems to be doing these days, decides to list all the tracks and allows you to listen to the first minute or so of each track, I would suggest, in addition to the songs listed above, that for more of a taste of the delights of this set you hear snippets from:

My Pretty Rose Tree (CD 3)
Ah, Sun-Flower (3)
The Little Vagabond (2)
London (3)
The Black Boy (1)
Earth's Answer (2)

Bolcom slightly rearranged the published order of Blake's poems, but cites a discovery­--a list of the poem's titles among the papers of Blake's widow--that supports his ordering. He had from early on decided to put 'A Divine Image' at the very end, largely because of its summing-up of human nature:

'Cruelty has a Human Heart
And Jealousy a Human Face;
Terror the Human Form Divine,
And Secrecy the Human Dress.

The Human Dress is forged Iron,
The Human Form a fiery Forge,
The Human Face a Furnace seal'd,
The Human Heart a hungry Gorge.'

This shattering poem is set to shattering music sung ironically as if by a mystical Sportin' Life by Nathan Lee Graham (with the combined choruses). A devastating finish to a stunning achievement by Bolcom and his musicians.

Make no mistake, this is a magnificent work in a performance whose recording preserves the sense of occasion, almost certainly the major piece by which Bolcom will be most remembered. (Although I need to say that I hope many others of his works survive, including the eagerly awaited opera based on Robert Altman's marvelous movie, 'The Wedding,' set for production at the Lyric Opera of Chicago later this year). 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience' has rarely been out of my CD player since I received it and likely that will continue: this work contains the world.

You cannot afford to be without this magnificent work. Grab it; it's not likely to be recorded again soon.

TT=3CDs: 2:17:11

Scott Morrison

William Bolcom has created the impossible musical work: a wholly apropos setting to the strange William Blake collection 'Songs of Innocence and Experience'. Bolcom seems to be familiar with about every aspect of music making from every culture and has melded these variegated influences with his fine classical compositional technique into a huge work for large orchestra, solo instrumentalists, percussion, multiple choruses, and ten soloists - clearly monumental forces. Fortunately this 3 CD set (55 tracks!) is taken from a live performance in Michigan in October 2004 and is rendered in a superlative fashion by Leonard Slatkin conducting the University of Michigan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, University Musical Society, and exceptional soloists Joan Morris, Carmen Pelton, Christine Brewer, Ilana Davidson, Measha Brueggergosman, Linda Hohenfeld, Nmon Ford, Thomas Young, and Nathan Lee Graham.

Blake's poems are rich in imagery and plead for the type of outlandish variation in interpretation that Bolcom achieves. The music is essentially tonal with riffs into atonality at the right moments, and incorporates speakers, spoken choruses, hymns, cabaret songs, jazz, rock, country - name it and it is included. But does the disparity of musical types make the work fragmented? Absolutlely not! The various sections fall into place in the pace of the poems and the nervous energy found in some portions are balanced by moments of childlike serenity. This is indeed a masterwork and one that deserves wide performances. The size of the forces required hampers most orchestras from programming the piece, but until funds and programming contingencies allow that to happen, this recording is as fine a performance as one could want. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, November 05

I have heard various descriptions of this magnificent work but the best to date is "An American Gurrelieder"

Bolcolm's musical language encompasses nearly every style of music - even some seemingly jarring genres one would never expect to coexist - yet they are seamlessly blended into what sounds like a natural whole. This is a remarkable achievement and it is a shame that so massive and important a work remains somewhat neglected. Kudos to Naxos for helping remedy "Songs" neglect by releasing this live and glorious performance out on their American Classics series.

With hundreds of musicians involved, all under the watchful and loving baton of Leonard Slatkin the combined forces deliver a performance for the ages. It is "okay" to listen to the discs (or portions of the work) individually, but to experience the entire thing in a single sitting - well the experience is an overwhelming one. This should definitely get a nod for "Record of the Year" as it is one of the most remarkable achievements in modern American music history.

Highest recommendation.

This is an amazing and wonderful work. It is not only a great listen for the casual music lover, but it is a staggering achievement for those who realize all the compositional problems William Bolcom has taken on and solved so beautifully in this work. If you believe all the interesting art music was written more than a century ago, I encourage you to give this work from the 1980s an open hearted listen and see if you can be won over. I believe you will find more to love on each hearing.

What are the challenges in setting the most popular of Blake's works to music? First of all, there are forty-six songs (poems) to set. Many of them have been set to music by other composers as individual songs or as a collection of a few of them. The idea of performing all of them as a single work in a single evening is near madness. How do you keep the audience from becoming weary? Even Romantic Era large orchestral settings of poems usually limit themselves to no more than a few poems.

There is also the larger structure to think of. The composer has to provide enough variety to keep the audience involved, but enough restraint to build a sense of coherence. So, what does Bolcom do? He uses every musical resource and genre available to him. He has traditional art music forms from chamber singing to grand opera. He also has folk music, sacred hymn, Southern hymnody, grand ole opry, rock elements (not a rock and roll song), reggae (sounds more like calypso to me), cabaret (Bolcom's specialty), movie and theater music (one not unlike something from "Les Miserables"), a dramatic speaking voice over music, tin pan alley, Broadway, and more. All the while, it is clearly in the sense of what one can usefully call Art Music and hangs together by the way Bolcom connects them with instrumental interludes.

Bolcom also varies the sizes of the forces performing. We hear various ensembles that range from a single voice with a single guitar all the way up to massed choruses and huge orchestra with pipe organ. Bolcom has a real talent for drama. He keeps things moving and moves our attention from one thing to another. And the settings are all so nicely appropriate for what Bolcom is trying to illuminate for us in each poem/song.

This great variety in presentation and heterodox approach to musical materials is quite in keeping with what Blake presented us in his illuminated books. Blake pushed beyond the conventional printing and engraving techniques of his day to create these works. The songs / poems also present a huge range of technique, voice, and affect. Throughout we find joy, sorrow, jokes, irony, divine love, eros, sweetness and a hard bitterness. William Blake used everything he had available to him in presenting his songs to us through his printing; it is surely appropriate that William Bolcom has used such a wide ranging musical palette in setting these songs to music.

This work is a treasure and you owe it to yourself to become familiar with it.

Like the other reviewers, I found this composition, and this recording, to be superb: shattering in its power and a revealing interpretation of the poems, innovative while fully faithful to their tone and content. The other reviews are quite helpful, but since they all sound as if written by academics, I want to add that this work is accessible and moving for a wider audience as well. Even without background in the poems, any careful listener would find this piece rewarding, although it is most certain to draw you into the stunning poetic work of Blake as well.

While this may not appeal to all tastes, it is definitely worth a listen if you are interested in exploring modern music. This is not what some people may expect when the term modern is used, although it is certainly modern. The other reviews have gone on at depth, I just want to say that I've listened to this recording several times and each time I hear something new. A fine addition to your CD collection.

Composer William Bolcom has pulled together an impressive musical feat with this sprawling song cycle set to the mystical poems of William Blake. Lasting nearly 2 1/2 hours, the aggregated piece took more than a quarter-century to complete and seems to encompass the major musical eras and styles of the 20th century. This could easily have been a mess in lesser hands, but Bolcom manages to make the disparate elements come together into an expressive statement about American music in all its textures. Like the poems that inspired it, Bolcom's piece shifts tone wildly, as the subject matter requires. His multi-cultural mix of idioms includes Glass-like atonal modernism, Mahler-like romanticism, traditional folk songs, country music, ragtime, Broadway, soul, and it all ends with a setting of "A Divine Image" to a reggae beat.

The use of such completely different styles is matched by Bolcom's skill in providing surprising though compatible transitions between the selections. He also keeps the orchestral and choral textures fresh, varied, and always interesting by combining elements one would think would come across as contrived, such as a harmonica floating over a sparse string arrangement. The vocal soloists are a varied lot and of superior talent. Standouts include soprano Measha Brueggergosman, who does an impressive turn on "The Lamb" with difficult leaps and runs. Fellow soprano Ilona Davidson's comparatively higher timbre is shown to great advantage in the alternately discordant and soothing "The Angel". Baritone Nimon Ford shows strong vocal power on "Hear the Voice of the Bard". Also worth noting are Joan Morris' cabaret approach to her brief numbers, Thomas Young's supple tenor, Christine Brewer's affecting soprano and Nathan Lee Graham's focused baritone. Even Peter "Madcat" Ruth's bluesy twang ekes out an effective rendition "The Shepherd".

No matter how bold or ironic, though, the various elements never seem forced or gimmicky. On the contrary, they feel exactly right for whatever level of his multi-tiered message Bolcom is trying to get across at any given moment. Leonard Slatkin does ample justice to Bolcom's artistic vision and inner ear by leading the University of Michigan School of Music Symphony Orchestra. A remarkable, challenging recording, well worth repeated listenings to get the full dramatic effect Bolcom was seeking.

Readers of this review should be aware of a potential conflict of interest. The composer and I are both on the faculty of the University of Michigan, though we work in different units and I have never met Bolcom.
An impressive work, performed impressively. Bolcom has set the texts of the famous Blake poems with a remarkable variety of musical styles ranging from what might be called modern dissonant music to popular idioms. This could easily be a gimmick but each and every setting is a very successful combination of text and music. Even more impressive is that this work doesn't feel like a melange of different songs. Despite the use of different musical idioms, Songs of Innocence and Experience is a unified work. This recording features an excellent performance, no small feat considering the need for a large number of excellent soloists, choirs, and ensemble players.
A final comment by a hometown boy. Part of the fine sound of this recording is due to the venue, Hill Auditorium. For many, the word auditorium probably conjures up recollection of a dingy part of high school. Hill, however, is an unusually handsome, free standing building on the campus of the University of Michigan. Designed by the great Albert Kahn, Hill boasts wonderful acoustics and has recently been restored to its original splendor. It is the least known great concert hall in the USA.

It's remarkable that a work written in the 1970s that incorporated aesthetics gleaned from the world of popular music in some of the song settings doesn't sound dated today. Bolcom apparently had been wise to focus on the elements geared to "illuminating" the Blake poems, such that the fit with the text trumped the stylistic clothing time after time.

On the other hand, the elevation of Blake's principle of contrariety to an organizational schema for the poems AND musical styles gives one pause, if only out of philosophical fairness. I can think of only two other works that exhibit such stylistic dislocations and extreme contrasts: Bernstein's "Mass," and Frank Zappa's "Lumpy Gravy." Bernstein had the benefit of an existing narrative (modified to suit his more eclectic sensibilities as a Jewish composer approaching a Catholic ritual) and the common thread of the Celebrant tying things together. Zappa would never have invoked the name of Blake to justify the bizarre juxtapositions in Lumpy Gravy. Why not simply say that form followed function on a per-song basis in this case, rather than to claim that Blake's arrangement of the poems is the secret key to why this large work enfolds as it does. Is there a massive macro structure? Maybe, but it's more likely that Blake is laughing at the emperor's new clothes that were sanctimoniously thrown over his proposed sequencing of the poems.

The performance is astonishing, as befits the massed forces required to do this work justice. The songs have superficial affinities to other music. One moment you'll be thinking, "this sounds like Fancy from Holst's Choral Symphony," the next you'll think it's an echo of John Rutter, then searing Humphrey Searle brass declamations followed by pseudo-Mahlerian children's choirs and a sequence that sounds like it might have appeared in a Hindemith opera. A couple of numbers anticipate 21st century Broadway numbers, without ever deteriorating into a copy of Bernstein's Mass (the similarities are superficial rather than substantive, as noted earlier).

There's something here for everybody, which (ironically) means there's the possibility there's something here to alienate everybody as well. When you're all over the map, you'll have your advocates and detractors regardless how well you attempt to justify the master plan. Bolcom correctly notes that this was a labor of love, and not a commissioned piece. One can tell that it was a labor of love, and it should be appreciated for what it is, and not derided for what it is not, nor could ever be. There'll always be the wag who'll propose to edit out the dissonant, disjunct parts to build a "better" piece of music more palatable to mass audiences not interested in having the consonant songs punctuated by some of the heaviest blocks of low-brass chords ever recorded. For people who think Parry was the last word on setting Blake to music, this recording should be a revelation -- either of their shallow unwillingness to "use their ears like a man" (Ives), or, one would hope, of a very personal vision of the breadth and scope of Blake's ideas brought to life in the world of sound.

I had the double pleasure of hearing a performance of this live in Ann Arbor AND purchasing the CD for subsequent enjoyment.

Bolcolm's composition, though somewhat dated (in the notes above you can see that this was actually written some time back) is still very fresh in 2006.

The use of seeming disparate forms of music (check out the raggae ending juxtaposed against some fairly depressing wording) has a "World Music" feel.

The University of Michigan Choirs, in spite of numbering over 400 on stage and on the CD still manage to produce a clear sound. A strong testimony to the quality of the directors of those choirs.

BRAVO- This truly deserved the recent Grammy recognition.