William Bolcom sets to music Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience

WILLIAM BOLCOM: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (William Blake) - 13 Vocal Soloists/Choirs/University of Michigan School of Music Symphony Orchestra/University Musical Society/Leonard Slatkin - Naxos American Classics DVD-Audio 5.110083-84 (2 disc set), 2:17:11, ****:

I reviewed the standard CD version of this song cycle in December of last year and though I didn’t mention it in the review I was thinking surely this huge undertaking was recorded multichannel at the same time and perhaps we’ll eventually hear a hi-res version of it. Well, here it is, and with the extended time length of DVD-As as opposed to SACD and CD, only two discs are required whereas the CD version required three. While some of the songs are set very simply, with just a single voice and accompaniment of one or two instruments, others involve all the myriad forces listed above - on a level of Mahler’s 8th Symphony. These produce dense choral/orchestral textures that are really too much for 44.1 PCM.  Now with DVD-A such sections have considerably more impact and immerse the listener in the hall sound. Especially effective is the instrumental Nocturne which opens Part III of the Songs of Innocence.  It is mainly fairly quiet percussive sounds such as wood blocks, but it clearly illuminates the hall reverberation. The different unexpected sounds in Bolcom’s wildly eclectic score are enhanced due to their spatial qualities. And you have one less disc to get up and change. 

Here’s the original review of the CD set:

This massive song cycle has been composer Bolcom’s preoccupation for many years and he was unsure the entire piece would ever be recorded following its original premiere 20 years ago. It involves over 450 musicians and takes well over two hours - outdoing even Mahler on length. Bolcolm had worked on the piece over a period of 25 years. Its stimulus was the composer’s fascination with Blake’s 46 poems which traverse a wide range of feelings and emotions, from childlike innocence to the experiences of adult life. Bolcom determined at age 17 that he would set all of the poems to music eventually, and he did.

Blake espoused the principle of contraries - good vs. evil, dark vs. light, etc. and Bolcom made this central to all his compositions - not just this one. He is known for shifting suddenly in many of his works from an academic serial style to a rocking boogie-woogie or corny march tune - you name it. Just as Blake matched his ideas to a wide variety of poetic diction, Bolcom matches the words to a variety of unexpected musical styles. The Shepherd’s Song comes a country and western tune, the Divine Image finale a reggae. And the various pop-culture music sounds very sincere and listenable - not just an attempt to shock. If you ever envisioned Tyger, tyger, Burning Bright with music, here it is. Various guest soloists were brought in for some of these non-classical contrasting sections - a folk/blues performer, a gospel singer, a harmonica player, for example. And the harmonica is not the only instrument Bolcolm adds to the orchestra that is not normally found there. As he noted in the program for the work’s premiere, “...Blake used his whole culture...high-flown and vernacular, as sources for his many poetic styles...all I did was use the same stylistic point of departure Blake did in my musical settings.”

 One critic called the work “the greatest achievement of synthesis in American music since Porgy and Bess.” In spite of its great size the work had 16 complete performances including its l984 premiere in Stuttgart, Germany. The key to getting it recorded was the cooperation of both the many musical forces at the University of Michigan Music Department, where Bolcom teaches, and of Naxos Records. Recording it live and with many non-professional performers also made it possible for this 3-CD set to be issued. And to retain the participation of noted conductor Leonard Slatkin, whose discography numbers over 100 recordings. But the performing level of all participants is very high and the sound excellent - though with such large forces it is unfortunate it can’t be heard in multichannel. This may be a mongrel masterpiece, but is thrillingly originative and certainly never boring. You might want to listen to it one CD at a time, there’s so much going on in each section of the work.

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