Naxos
Bolcom: Songs of Innocence & Experience / Slatkin
$35.99
Details
- Composer
- BOLCOM
- Artist
- Ilana, Ford, Measha, Davidson, Christine, Brueggergosman, Brewer
- Format
- CD
- Label
- Naxos
- Released
- Oct 19, 2004
- Catalog #
- 8559216-18
- UPC
- 636943921623
About
"There is nothing like Songs of Innocence and of Experience in all of American music...the score is a multicultural stew of idioms, from rigorous modernism to Mahler-like Romanticism, Appalachian folk songs, madrigals, country, ragtime, show music, rock, soul and reggae...Monstrous, indeed...an influential landmark in both the development of Bolcom's eclectic aesthetic and recent American musical history, documenting the liberating shift from high-modernist orthodoxy to an all-embracing post-modern collage of styles...In a coup for UMS and U-M, the feisty classical label Naxos has agreed to issue the first recording of the piece. Naxos engineers will tape Thursday's performance, along with follow-up sessions Friday and Saturday. Despite ecstatic reviews and cult status, the piece has never been commercially recorded...Naxos is covering engineering, production, conductor, soloist, copyright and other fees related to recording. " -- Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press, April 6th, 2004
"William Bolcom's gigantic, well-more-than-two-hour setting of William Blake's complete "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" poetic cycle is enormously difficult and expensive to perform. Looking down at the forces assembled for the University of Michigan performance in Hill Auditorium here on Thursday night was a mega-Mahlerian experience, with a stage extension needed to accommodate the nearly 500 musicians (bigger than the forces of any Mahler "Symphony of a Thousand" I have encountered). All that was missing were lighting effects and projections of Blake's engravings, suggested in the score. But they were on display in the lobby. So visually it was awesome, and musically it was pretty awesome, too. Mr. Bolcom, who is now 65, has taught at the University of Michigan since 1973. He first became interested in Blake's visionary poems - written in the late 18th century and full of Christian mysticism and a horror of modern life and human cruelty - in 1956, from when his first sketches date. Composed sporadically, the piece received its world and American premieres in 1984 and has been performed intermittently since. At its second appearance in New York, with Leonard Slatkin conducting the St. Louis Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 1992, Edward Rothstein ended the first paragraph of his review in The New York Times with the words, "It should be recorded." Now, at long last, it has been. Thursday's performance was again conducted by Mr. Slatkin and, with patching sessions, will be released on the Naxos label."
-- John Rockwell, New York Times, April 11, 2004
"William Bolcom's gigantic, well-more-than-two-hour setting of William Blake's complete "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" poetic cycle is enormously difficult and expensive to perform. Looking down at the forces assembled for the University of Michigan performance in Hill Auditorium here on Thursday night was a mega-Mahlerian experience, with a stage extension needed to accommodate the nearly 500 musicians (bigger than the forces of any Mahler "Symphony of a Thousand" I have encountered). All that was missing were lighting effects and projections of Blake's engravings, suggested in the score. But they were on display in the lobby. So visually it was awesome, and musically it was pretty awesome, too. Mr. Bolcom, who is now 65, has taught at the University of Michigan since 1973. He first became interested in Blake's visionary poems - written in the late 18th century and full of Christian mysticism and a horror of modern life and human cruelty - in 1956, from when his first sketches date. Composed sporadically, the piece received its world and American premieres in 1984 and has been performed intermittently since. At its second appearance in New York, with Leonard Slatkin conducting the St. Louis Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 1992, Edward Rothstein ended the first paragraph of his review in The New York Times with the words, "It should be recorded." Now, at long last, it has been. Thursday's performance was again conducted by Mr. Slatkin and, with patching sessions, will be released on the Naxos label."
-- John Rockwell, New York Times, April 11, 2004
Tracklist 55 tracks
- Disc 1
-
1 Part 1: Introduction 03:08
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Part 1: Introduction
- Duration
- 03:08
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
2 Part 1: The Ecchoing Green 02:32
- Track
- 2
- Title
- Part 1: The Ecchoing Green
- Duration
- 02:32
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
3 Part 1: The Lamb 03:20
- Track
- 3
- Title
- Part 1: The Lamb
- Duration
- 03:20
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
4 Part 1: The Shepherd 02:14
- Track
- 4
- Title
- Part 1: The Shepherd
- Duration
- 02:14
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
5 Part 1: Infant Joy 01:58
- Track
- 5
- Title
- Part 1: Infant Joy
- Duration
- 01:58
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
6 Part 1: The Little Black Boy 04:07
- Track
- 6
- Title
- Part 1: The Little Black Boy
- Duration
- 04:07
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
7 Part 2: Laughing Song 00:33
- Track
- 7
- Title
- Part 2: Laughing Song
- Duration
- 00:33
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
8 Part 2: Spring 01:45
- Track
- 8
- Title
- Part 2: Spring
- Duration
- 01:45
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
9 Part 2: A Cradle Song 04:04
- Track
- 9
- Title
- Part 2: A Cradle Song
- Duration
- 04:04
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
10 Part 2: Nurse's Song 01:36
- Track
- 10
- Title
- Part 2: Nurse's Song
- Duration
- 01:36
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
11 Part 2: Holy Thursday 01:08
- Track
- 11
- Title
- Part 2: Holy Thursday
- Duration
- 01:08
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
12 Part 2: The Blossom 00:41
- Track
- 12
- Title
- Part 2: The Blossom
- Duration
- 00:41
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
13 Part 2: Interlude 00:25
- Track
- 13
- Title
- Part 2: Interlude
- Duration
- 00:25
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
14 Part 2: The Chimney Sweeper 03:14
- Track
- 14
- Title
- Part 2: The Chimney Sweeper
- Duration
- 03:14
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
15 Part 2: The Divine Image 03:50
- Track
- 15
- Title
- Part 2: The Divine Image
- Duration
- 03:50
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
16 Part 3: Nocturne 02:03
- Track
- 16
- Title
- Part 3: Nocturne
- Duration
- 02:03
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
17 Part 3: Night 05:01
- Track
- 17
- Title
- Part 3: Night
- Duration
- 05:01
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
18 Part 3: A Dream 01:41
- Track
- 18
- Title
- Part 3: A Dream
- Duration
- 01:41
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
19 Part 3: On Another's Sorrow 01:53
- Track
- 19
- Title
- Part 3: On Another's Sorrow
- Duration
- 01:53
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
20 Part 3: The Little Boy Lost 02:48
- Track
- 20
- Title
- Part 3: The Little Boy Lost
- Duration
- 02:48
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
21 Part 3: The Little Boy Found 01:56
- Track
- 21
- Title
- Part 3: The Little Boy Found
- Duration
- 01:56
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
22 Part 3: Coda 01:32
- Track
- 22
- Title
- Part 3: Coda
- Duration
- 01:32
- Composer
- William Bolcom
- Disc 2
-
1 Part 1: Introduction 02:20
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Part 1: Introduction
- Duration
- 02:20
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
2 Part 1: Hear the Voice of the Bard 02:55
- Track
- 2
- Title
- Part 1: Hear the Voice of the Bard
- Duration
- 02:55
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
3 Part 1: Interlude 00:51
- Track
- 3
- Title
- Part 1: Interlude
- Duration
- 00:51
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
4 Part 1: Earth's Answer 04:54
- Track
- 4
- Title
- Part 1: Earth's Answer
- Duration
- 04:54
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
5 Part 2: Nurse's Song 01:10
- Track
- 5
- Title
- Part 2: Nurse's Song
- Duration
- 01:10
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
6 Part 2: The Fly 01:43
- Track
- 6
- Title
- Part 2: The Fly
- Duration
- 01:43
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
7 Part 2: The Tyger 01:50
- Track
- 7
- Title
- Part 2: The Tyger
- Duration
- 01:50
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
8 Part 2: The Little Girl Lost 01:10
- Track
- 8
- Title
- Part 2: The Little Girl Lost
- Duration
- 01:10
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
9 Part 2: In the Southern Clime 02:08
- Track
- 9
- Title
- Part 2: In the Southern Clime
- Duration
- 02:08
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
10 Part 2: The Little Girl Found 04:47
- Track
- 10
- Title
- Part 2: The Little Girl Found
- Duration
- 04:47
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
11 Part 3: The Clod and the Pebble 01:47
- Track
- 11
- Title
- Part 3: The Clod and the Pebble
- Duration
- 01:47
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
12 Part 3: The Little Vagabond 02:31
- Track
- 12
- Title
- Part 3: The Little Vagabond
- Duration
- 02:31
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
13 Part 3: Holy Thursday 02:44
- Track
- 13
- Title
- Part 3: Holy Thursday
- Duration
- 02:44
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
14 Part 3: A Poison Tree 02:09
- Track
- 14
- Title
- Part 3: A Poison Tree
- Duration
- 02:09
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
15 Part 3: The Angel 03:15
- Track
- 15
- Title
- Part 3: The Angel
- Duration
- 03:15
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
16 Part 3: The Sick Rose 03:14
- Track
- 16
- Title
- Part 3: The Sick Rose
- Duration
- 03:14
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
17 Part 3: To Tirzah 03:32
- Track
- 17
- Title
- Part 3: To Tirzah
- Duration
- 03:32
- Composer
- William Bolcom
- Disc 3
-
1 Part 4: The Voice of the Ancient Bard 02:29
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Part 4: The Voice of the Ancient Bard
- Duration
- 02:29
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
2 Part 4: My Pretty Rose Tree 01:43
- Track
- 2
- Title
- Part 4: My Pretty Rose Tree
- Duration
- 01:43
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
3 Part 4: Ah! Sun-Flower 02:30
- Track
- 3
- Title
- Part 4: Ah! Sun-Flower
- Duration
- 02:30
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
4 Part 4: The Lilly 01:36
- Track
- 4
- Title
- Part 4: The Lilly
- Duration
- 01:36
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
5 Part 5: Introduction 00:49
- Track
- 5
- Title
- Part 5: Introduction
- Duration
- 00:49
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
6 Part 5: The Garden of Love 02:04
- Track
- 6
- Title
- Part 5: The Garden of Love
- Duration
- 02:04
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
7 Part 5: A Little Boy Lost 02:27
- Track
- 7
- Title
- Part 5: A Little Boy Lost
- Duration
- 02:27
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
8 Part 5: A Little Girl Lost 04:44
- Track
- 8
- Title
- Part 5: A Little Girl Lost
- Duration
- 04:44
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
9 Part 5: Infant Sorrow 02:23
- Track
- 9
- Title
- Part 5: Infant Sorrow
- Duration
- 02:23
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
10 Part 5: Vocalise 02:57
- Track
- 10
- Title
- Part 5: Vocalise
- Duration
- 02:57
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
11 Part 6: London 03:54
- Track
- 11
- Title
- Part 6: London
- Duration
- 03:54
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
12 Part 6: The School-Boy 03:23
- Track
- 12
- Title
- Part 6: The School-Boy
- Duration
- 03:23
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
13 Part 6: The Chimney Sweeper 01:20
- Track
- 13
- Title
- Part 6: The Chimney Sweeper
- Duration
- 01:20
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
14 Part 6: The Human Abstract 03:22
- Track
- 14
- Title
- Part 6: The Human Abstract
- Duration
- 03:22
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
15 Part 6: Interlude - Voces Clamandae 01:32
- Track
- 15
- Title
- Part 6: Interlude - Voces Clamandae
- Duration
- 01:32
- Composer
- William Bolcom
-
16 Part 6: A Divine Image 05:29
- Track
- 16
- Title
- Part 6: A Divine Image
- Duration
- 05:29
- Composer
- William Bolcom