William Bolcom - Songs Of Innocence And Of Experience
STYLE: Choral RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 13019- LABEL: Naxos American Classics 855921618 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 3 RRP: £14.95
Reviewed by Steven Whitehead
Trust me but you have never heard anything like this. Ever. Three CDs or two and a quarter hours of music; 13 soloists; five choirs; a symphony orchestra and the Contemporary Directions Ensemble. About 450 performers all held together under the forceful baton of Leonard Slatkin. But to what purpose? The American pianist and composer William Bolcom has long admired the visionary poetry of William Blake and over some 20 years as a professional musician he has been setting the 'Songs Of Innocence And Experience' to music. If you know Blake's poetry you will realise that this is quite a challenge. Some of the songs are as simple as a nursery rhyme (and anyone who has tried to write a nursery rhyme can tell you that it is not as easy as it looks) but others are passionate, angry denunciations of injustice and cruelty and who has not heard of "The Lamb" or "The Tiger"? Amazingly, brilliantly, Bolcom manages to bring these poems to life and, in so doing, gives us a magical musical tour across America using spirituals, folk songs, jazz, rock and on to serialism and dissonance. This is a unique piece and a brief review cannot do it justice.
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Posted by Steven Whitehead in Buckinghamshire @ 10:13 on Feb 10 2006
I have not changed my mind since writing this review and was
gratified to see my opinion endorsed by this release's
success at the Grammy Awards in February 2006.
I have not changed my mind since writing this review and was gratified to see my opinion endorsed by this release's success at the Grammy Awards in February 2006.