Bolcom’s refracted hymn tunes on the Rockefeller chapel organ

Few composers have as much surprising material up their sleeves as William Bolcom, who can usually be counted upon to devise intriguing soundscapes in whatever genre he’s tackling. This certainly holds true for his Gospel Preludes, a dozen hymns for solo organ that Bolcolm tweaks with invigorating, respectful and often feisty brilliance. Gregory Hand gives the collection sonorous and probing performances on the Skinner organ at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.

Bolcom has painted well the state of much of American Christianity, with the revivalist hymns flirting with High Church musical traditions, ramming their heads against a century of dissonance, whirling around the floor with Black gospel music, walking the sawdust trail teary-eyed, trusting in their own wretched urgency, but ineptly and accidentally finding Christ’s light burden and easy yoke in spite of themselves. The preludes are us, tortured, laughing it all off, taking it seriously again, and coming back to the church as it should be: a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints, where the unfamiliar incense covers the stale cigarette smell still in our grubby clothes, and where the blood imparted in little sips doesn’t care if it’s a chaser to last night’s rum.

It’s a compliment to Bolcom that these dozen preludes can be so personal. And they don’t care much about being genteel! When they feel the need to burst into song (or “Let ‘er rip”, as I would hear shouted at camp-meeting services), they do without warning, and it’s tinged with the thrill of breaking a taboo. When Bolcom writes in a black gospel style, he’s not just aping the harmonies; he gets the essence of it in the elongated melody lines. Art should sometimes be a commentary on culture, and that’s what these preludes are. They’re an important addition to the organ repertory, and they’re an accurate reflection of American Christianity. Gregory Hand has done a stunning job here… © 2012 American Record Guide Read complete review on American Record Guide online