THEATRICAL SONGS. 51 Songs for High Voice and Piano and for Low Voice and Piano
2014; Routledge; Volume: 70; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Music History and Culture
ResumoBOLCOM, WILLIAM (b. 1938). THEATRICAL SONGS. 51 Songs for High Voice and Piano and for Low Voice and Piano. Two volumes, same songs. Edward B. Marks Music Company, 2012 (Hal Leonard Corporation).This new collection of songs by William Bolcom contains fifty-one songs, most of which are from shows, cycles, or sets, and several of which are published here for the first time. There are excellent notes by the composer on all of the songs detailing their genesis and background and setting the scenes for those from shows. Some of the songs received a premiere performance, and some were composed for shows that got off the ground, as the composer says.The first eight songs are from the shows, Casino Paradise, Dynamite Tonite, and Greatshot. All are tonal with fairly open textured, patterned piano scores accompanying lyric vocal lines with rather wide ranges. songs in Casino Paradise have tempo markings descriptive of their moods: Soft Latin tempo, Slow rock tempo, Vamp tempo, Slow tango tempo, and a lovely song marked Like a folksong. story telling texts would suggest that the songs be sung as a group by several singers.Four sets or cycles of songs include Wind in the Willows (first publication), Ancient Cabaret, Minicabs, and Songs to Dance (first publication). songs from Wind in the Willows were composed for a Broadway show that never came to fruition. They are delightful settings of River Song, Messing About in Boats, Carol, Rat's Song, The Bird's Song, Let's Go Take a Spin Around the Moon, The World Has Had Great Heroes, The Fight Song, and When the Toad Came Home. This cycle is easy to intermediate in difficulty and would be an interesting choice for student singers, and perhaps for children's audiences.Both Ancient Cabaret and Minicabs are spinoffs of the earlier Cabaret Songs. Both sets contain very short songs, pithy and to the point. texts of Ancient Cabaret come from ancient Greek playwrights, and the music is the least tonal and most pointed in the collection. Minicabs was reviewed in this column in the September/October, 2011 issue of the Journal of Singing.Songs to Dance, inspired by dancer Dan Wagoner, was composed as a sort of piano trio for singer, piano, and dancer. songs are short, musically varied, and designed to integrate the dancer onstage with the other two performers. set received only one performance in its intended form, and the composer says it can be performed by singer and pianist alone. In his commentary, Bolcom states, Like other songs in this collection, it is situated between the theatrical and concert worlds. …
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