William Bolcom
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
(Naxos)
American composer William Bolcom's setting of the 46 poems of William Blake's much-loved Songs of Innocence and Experience is a massive musical hybrid that gives each poem a different musical treatment - classical, jazz, contemporary atonal, country and western, choral, operatic and rock. Conducted by Leonard Slatkin, this vast work is fluently shaped over its nine movements, each given its own distinct emotional parabola.
Blake wrote his masterpiece in the late 18th century, but the language is easy to read and unadorned. The simplicity of Blake's language gives the poems an easy elasticity that allows Bolcom to adopt various musical styles for each poem. The strong musical contrasts surprise and engage and help hold the attention through this 140-minute marathon.
From Songs of Innocence, The Shepherd is charmingly set as a country and western song while The Little Black Boy is a harmonica, guitar and light orchestra rendition that sounds as if it has been lifted straight from the latest Broadway musical. The Songs of Experience are darker, some with a Mahlerian breadth and intensity, while the famous Tyger, Tyger is rendered as an aggressive drum-based, percussive choral chant.
