Album insights
Leonard Bernstein skyrocketed to fame overnight when he replaced Bruno Walter at the last minute, debuting with the New York Philharmonic in a nationally broadcast concert on November 14, 1943. This marked the beginning of a remarkable career, leading major orchestras while continuing to compose. In 1948, while immersed in W.H. Auden's poem 'The Age of Anxiety: a Baroque Eclogue,' Bernstein, during the first Israeli-Arab war, directed the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. The elegiac chant from the 2nd part of the presented symphony was completed amidst historical events there and premiered in Tel Aviv on November 28, conducted by Georg Singer with Bernstein as the soloist. The entire work was dedicated to Serge Kussewitzky, who led its premiere in Boston in his final season with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on April 8, 1949, with Bernstein at the piano. Bernstein's strong identification with the poem and his portrayal of himself as a pianist and 'autobiographical protagonist' in the symphonic adaptation make it worthwhile to trace the events hinted at in the poem.
A: Prologue - Four confused figures sit in a bar on Third Avenue, trying to solve their problems: Quant, the son of an Irish immigrant; Malin, a medical officer in the Canadian Air Force's intelligence unit; Rosetta, a buyer at a large department store; and Emble, serving in the Navy. A very soft clarinet duet is followed by a downward flute scale, serving as a 'bridge to the realms of the unconscious.’
B: The Seven Ages - A discussion among the four, 'logical and instructive in tone.' The seven variations without a common theme arise from aspects of the preceding sections.
- A lyrical piano solo ending with a descending harp scale.
- Interactions between piano and orchestra.
- Cantabile strings without piano.
- A miniature scherzo in quintuple meter (3/8 + 2/8).
- A clarinet initiates a restless agitato.
- A plaintive piano solo.
- Woodwinds lead into a long descending scale on the piano.
C: The Seven Stages - Another seven variations present a dream odyssey symbolizing the internal journey of the four figures in various relationships, culminating in a 'hectic but futile conclusion.'
- A weighty passacaglia - a regular six-note figure in the bass.
- A waltz, related to the passacaglia theme increasingly dominant.
- The piano introduces fast figures in septuple meter (4/4 + 3/4).
- The piano takes the lead in a fugato.
- A light moto perpetuo, mostly played piano.
- The piano retreats as the passacaglia theme enters chorale-like.
- The piano returns to dominate the conclusion.
A: The Dirge - Expressing the four figures' feelings as they share a taxi to Rosetta's apartment, lamenting the absence of a father figure who could untangle their problems. The piano introduces the dirge with a rising twelve-tone row in the style of Alban Berg. Bernstein described the (mostly conceived as a piano solo) middle part of this 'strangely pompous lament’ as 'almost Brahmsian romantic.'
B: The Masque - The group, now in the apartment, 'weary, guilty, determined to celebrate; each fearing to spoil the fun for others by admitting they should really be home in bed.' This section is a brilliant scherzo derived from jazz elements, enchantingly accompanied by harp, celesta, and percussion.
C: The Epilogue - The festivity has cleansed the four of their past, viewing faith as 'something pure,' symbolized by the sound of a solo trumpet; preceding it is a distant piano in the orchestra carrying echoes of the jazz masque. The mood then turns serious: a chorale with interjections, a piano cadenza recalling previous themes, more distant piano, followed by a slow affirmation. Originally, the epilogue didn’t involve the piano, except for one solo chord at the end, but Bernstein revised this section in 1965, keeping the piano involved.
The opening clarinet duet, the third variation, and the main theme of the epilogue all come from earlier works, yet the symphony's overall concept—depicting how individuals desperately seek meaning in their fate—recurs in Bernstein's life and works. Collaborating with Auden, he uniquely expresses this dilemma.
William Bolcom, born in 1938 in Seattle, Washington, is one of the most colorful figures among living American composers. As an interpreter, he is a wonderfully idiomatic ragtime pianist and a reliable accompanist across various music genres, particularly the repertoire he initiated with his wife Joan Morris. His refusal to keep popular and classical forms separate is an appealing trait of his Piano Concerto, commissioned in 1976 by the PONCHO group based in Seattle. The composer himself premiered it with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Milton Katims on March 8, 1976, in Seattle.
In his contribution to the premiere's program notes, Bolcom called it 'one of the bitterest pieces’ he had ever written. It primarily served as his response to the bicentennial celebrations of the USA, echoing John Cage’s questions about the seriousness of such fervor. Bolcom found it challenging to make the music unequivocally ironic, noting that the audience took joy in the turbulent potpourri of popular melodies in the finale, similar to their enjoyment of the last movement of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. He pointed out that the concerto 'is a very direct piece,' and 'through its episodic structure, in many ways, an ironic commentary on Gershwin's F major Concerto.’ This underlying irony is discernible, yet Bolcom's concerto, like his earlier 'Commedia’ and later Fifth Symphony, blends styles uniquely, presenting the soloist as anything but the triumphant hero of 19th-century concert scenarios.
I: Andante spianato – Allegro
The first movement begins with the simplest bass run in C major from the piano, reminiscent of Milhaud, one of Bolcom's teachers, or the start of Copland's Clarinet Concerto. The brass interjects with some blue notes, followed by elaborations from all. The subsequent episodes oscillate between rather dissonant styles and popular ones. The piano hints at a Habanera, delves into pop music clichés, then attempts seriousness with harmonics. An intimate solo with Spanish echoes is distributed around by the piano before embarking on a stride tempo to build to a climax. When it finally arrives, it consists of the initial C major material fervently presented by the entire orchestra, followed by what the composer originally termed a 'concise, tragic coda.’
If Bolcom hadn't mentioned that the second movement commences with 'an ironic answer to the wonderful clarinet at the beginning of the slow movement of Gershwin's concerto,' we would never have guessed. Much delicate question-and-answer interplay occurs between soloist and orchestra, initially termed 'conversational,’ with a contemplative mood seemingly detached from what follows.
The slow movement seamlessly transitions into the finale, described by Bolcom as 'ridiculous and frightening at the same time.’ Charles Ives showed us, employing some of the same melodies, the unbridled joy such capers bring, and it's notable that Bolcom completed his concerto only two years after the centennial celebrations of Ives. According to the composer, the finale ‘consciously recalls the television custom at that time, which, cut into a wild collage, hurls every conceivable patriotic emblem at you.’ It starts with fragments of 'Yankee Doodle,’ then introduces 'Dixie's Land’ and 'Columbia the Gem of the Ocean.’ Next, a 'pseudo-patriotic’ theme of Bolcom's creation, highlighted by the piano but introduced briefly by the cornet. The whole mood resembles a 19th-century popular march, complete with altered chords in the barbershop style. In the middle stands a sentimental cornet solo supported by bell effects, evolving into a rural waltz before transitioning to a lively Broadway tempo. Occasionally, the piano strives for more seriousness, albeit briefly, and the 'pseudo-patriotic’ theme returns in the full orchestra, brimming with the fervor of true patriotism. No one but Bolcom could have conceived such a musical menagerie of Americana - ultimately a triumph.