William Bolcom

Canciones de Lorca

Bolcom is a famously eclectic stylist. The poems here are sung in Spanish and the musical accompaniment is recognizably Spanish-tinged in rhythm and color (including castanets and the like). But the composer goes much deeper than that; Canciones is no picture postcard. He delves into the dark, mysterious and surrealistic core of the poetry and returns us its sinews and subtexts in a varietal, mercurial music that touches upon Puccini, Mahler, jazz, Cuban dance, atonal acerbity and tonal bliss. In the process, he doesn't exactly explain the sometimes difficult poetry, but he does bring it to life. -Timothy Mangan, Orange County Register, Oct. 26, 2013. With text by poet Federico Garcia Lorca, this composition was premiered by Placido Domingo and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra under Carl St. Clarin on September 15, 2006. Recorded on Naxos 8. 559788 by the Pacific Symphony, Carl St. Clair, conductor and René Barbera, Tenor.