In
2000 the American soprano, Carole
Farley, teamed up with her fellow
countryman, Ned Rorem, to produce
a splendid Naxos CD containing a
selection of Rorem’s songs (see
review).
Now
she’s done it again, this time combining
with another noted American composer,
William Bolcom.
Like
Rorem, William Bolcom has produced
a significant corpus of songs during
his career. However, whereas Rorem
has, so far as I know, confined
himself to the metier of
art song, Bolcom has composed prolifically
and successfully in two different
genres, namely art songs and cabaret
or theatrical songs. This CD contains
examples of both of these aspects
of his work. In a note accompanying
the disc Bolcom writes approvingly
of Miss Farley’s ability to “shift
stylistic gears”, an ability that
this programme tests to the full.
She
plunges straight in with ‘You Cannot
Have Me Now’, which begins arrestingly
with an ear-piercing scream! Miss
Farley gives an unbuttoned performance
of this number, complete with Germanic
accent. I may as well admit that
the song is not really to my taste
but she puts it across with splendid
panache. She displays a similar
relish as a sexy chanteuse
taking the role of Cis in two numbers
from Casino Paradise.
I’m a little puzzled as to why
these two items weren’t tracked
consecutively. I was particularly
taken with ‘My Father the Gangster’
where the rippling piano accompaniment
and the popular idiom belie the
underlying pathos of the text. Miss
Farley is most involving.
Recently
I reviewed Bolcom’s Songs of
Innocence and of Experience
(see review).
This substantial work, a key one
in Bolcom’s output, was devoted
entirely to settings of poetry by
William Blake. Blake crops up here
as well in a single song, ‘Mary’.
This is a strange poem. It starts
off in deceptive innocence but before
long there are darker undertones.
Bolcom catches all this very well
indeed. His setting commences as
a quite engaging piece in waltz
time. The waltz rhythm pervades
the song but the music becomes much
less simple as the poem unfolds.
He and Miss Farley give a very fine
account of this intriguing song.
The
main offering here is the cycle
of eleven songs, I Will Breathe
a Mountain. These were written
for the distinguished mezzo-soprano,
Marilyn Horne and the commission
was, I believe, part of the celebrations
for the centenary of Carnegie Hall.
Miss Horne made a memorable recoding
of the cycle for BMG in 1993 (09026
68771 2). The poems set by Bolcom
are all authored by American women,
most of whom were twentieth-century
writers. The writer, Alice Fulton,
one of whose own poems is included,
assisted him in most of his selection.
I say “most of” because Marilyn
Horne herself specified one poem.
This was The Bustle in the House
by Emily Dickinson, which became
the eighth song in the cycle. This
poem had particular connotations
for Miss Horne because she had read
it at her brother’s funeral and
I don’t think it’s any accident
that this is one of the most deeply
felt performances in her recording.
It’s
been fascinating to compare both
recordings, each of which is excellent
in its own right. I have neither
perfect pitch nor access to a score
of these songs but, so far as I
can tell, Miss Farley sings all
of them in higher keys than Miss
Horne – not a surprise given their
different vocal ranges. What is
very noticeable is the disparity
between the duration of the performances.
This newcomer lasts 19’39” but Miss
Horne takes 24’21”. That’s quite
a discrepancy in a work of this
length. As you’ll gather, in most
songs Miss Horne is more expansive
than Miss Farley although in three
their timings are pretty well identical.
I think that the generally faster
speeds and, perhaps, the use of
higher keys, brings a degree of
urgency, even abrasiveness, to Miss
Farley’s performance that we don’t
find in Miss Horne’s. Let me say
at once that I don’t use the word
“abrasiveness” in a pejorative sense.
Indeed, this characteristic is quite
appropriate to some of the settings.
On balance I think I prefer Miss
Horne’s greater degree of warmth,
her richer, rounder tone but Miss
Farley’s performance is a fine and
committed one and I can imagine
that many people will prefer the
greater urgency and, perhaps, sense
of risk that she brings to the music.
Several of the poems are far from
easy to understand but Miss Farley
communicates them all vividly. The
vocal writing ranges from Sprechstimme
to warm lyricism and often the singer
is required to execute prodigious
leaps from low register to high
or vice versa. None of these
technical demands seems to present
the slightest difficulty to Miss
Farley. I’ll not pretend that this
cycle is an easy listen at times
but it seems to me to be a major
contribution to the genre and in
Carole Farley it has an impassioned
and highly accomplished advocate.
One can only assume that her performance
of these songs, and indeed all of
the items here recorded, has the
approval of the composer, whose
presence at the piano lends these
performances particular authenticity
and authority.
This
is a most interesting and wide-ranging
anthology of songs by William Bolcom.
Since he is a prolific songwriter
I suspect that one CD can’t do more
than give a flavour of his output.
However, this will provide a good
introduction. All the texts are
provided, in English only, but there’s
a German translation of the composer’s
notes.
Naxos
are to be congratulated on yet another
enterprising issue. A few years
ago such a CD would probably not
have been issued, even at full price,
but now here we have an excellent
opportunity to sample Bolcom’s songs
in first rate performances and at
a most affordable price. Anyone
with an interest in the song repertoire
who is possessed of an enquiring
ear should certainly investigate
this disc.
John Quinn
see
also interview with Carole Farley
by Anne Ozorio
Carole Farley (soprano); William Bolcom (piano)
