Search - William Bolcom, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Louisville Orchestra :: William Bolcom: Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 3; Seatlle Slew Orchestral Suite

Bolcom as Symphonist (and Jokester)

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 05/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The following is taken from the First Edition Music website, in order to explain this new label: "The Santa Fe Music Group recently acquired the rights to the Louisville Orchestra's landmark First Edition Records and launches the new First Edition Music line that now numbers 38 compact disc titles. Culled from the First Edition archive of over 400 modern works, nearly all were originally produced by legendary Columbia Masterworks director Howard Scott (presently consulting on the reissues)." Like many old, established and extremely valuable labels, First Edition as we knew it apparently is no more, but the Santa Fe Music Group has stepped in to fill the breach and to keep many of those treasured First Edition issues available. They, and the Louisville Orchestra, were so very extraordinarily valuable over the years in producing premières and performances of new works by mostly American composers. I've known and loved these Bolcom performances for ten or more years. I tend to buy CDs of Bolcom's music because although his output is highly variable he always has something interesting to say, and he is capable of saying it in well-crafted and often lovely music. (The recent 2 CD set of his 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience' has been a runaway best-seller.) His is an eclectic style and that is certainly in evidence here. The First Symphony, written at the Aspen Music Festival when he was 19 and studying with Darius Milhaud, borrows styles from all over but manages to be, nonetheless, a coherent whole. And it's good fun, too, although it is over too soon - it's only 17 minutes long.



The Third Symphony is altogether more serious. It attempts, in an impressionistic way, to limn the journey from birth to death. Alto flute, English horn and bassoon have a Greek chorus-like role in the symphony. The first movement is called 'Alpha,' the last 'Omega.' There is a definite Classical feel to the symphony. This performance, recorded in 1992, is marked by crisp ensemble and adroit solo work.



'Seattle Slew,' written for the Pacific Northwest Ballet, trades on the fame of 1977 Triple Crown Winner, Seattle Slew. A three-movement romp, the movements are called 'Derby Dressage' (Bolcom calls it a 'bar scene' with a Runyonesque crowd), 'Preakness Promenade' (where the patrons are 'sophisticated and snobby') and 'Belmont Bourée' (with 'race-goers [who] are rather preppie'). The whole thing is written in regular rhythms and square melodies but still somehow manages to be high-spirited, largely because all three movements incorporate ragtime and tango elements.



This is a worthy reissue. If you missed the first time round, now's your chance to have it a mid-price.



Scott Morrison"

The two symphonies a fine introduction to the "serious" Bolc

Discophage | France | 01/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This First Edition Music CD is the straight reissue of an earlier CD published by Louisville First Edition Recordings, as part of a short-lived foray of the famed label into CD at the turn of the 1980s to 90s, which yielded no more than ten releases. See my lengthy review under the original CD release, William Bolcom - Symphonies 1 & 3, Sattle Slew Orchestral Suite (First Edition).



The Seattle Slew Suite is very typical of the more popular, "Ragtime" Bolcom - not the side I prefer. On the other hand the two symphonies are fine examples of the "serious" composer. The 1st, dating from 1957, is the apprentice work of a 19-year old composer and, though it understandably betrays influences (Berg, Stravinsky, Ives, with the first and third movement having a muscularity and drama reminiscent of Mennin and Schuman at their most advanced and angular), it is quite a remarkable composition. The Third Symphony is a much later piece (1979) and is even more original, again very eclectic in its styles and quotations. But one of the most appealing features of Bolcom's serious style, I feel, is its stylistic freedom, the fact that it is subservient to no compositional dictums: Bolcom can write music as "advanced" as anybody, but he never loses his sense of color and drama and his appeal. It makes one curious to hear his next symphonies (William Bolcom: Symphony No. 4; Session 1 and William Bolcom - Violin Concerto (Serfiu Luca, violin); Fantasia Concertante; Fifth Symphony - American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies (conductor), the latter an Argo disc now reissued by Phoenix: Bolcom: Violin Concerto; Fantasia Concertante; Fifth Symphony or BOLCOM: Fifth Symphony/Violin Concerto in D/Fantasia Concertante).



The recordings date from 1990 and 1991 and come in excellent sound."

A matter of taste

Ursiform | Torrance, CA USA | 01/20/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"How you feel about this CD will probably depend on your taste in music. I like Bolcom's rags, so for me the Seattle Slew Suite is worth the price of the disc. It has a jauntiness similar to the rags, and is just plain fun to listen to.



The two symphonies, on the other hand, suffer, in my hearing, from the problems of so much contemporary classical music. Bolcom tries too hard to be novel and to be surprising. They aren't offensive, and are better than much of the genre, but they aren't all that much to my taste."