Though this work is meant to be danced from start to finish, the musical section is self-contained, being held together motivically. It is in the four movements of a symphony, each evoking the work of a famous American poet (Poe, Sidney Lanier, Whitman and Carl Sandberg). It does this more in atmosphere than in any autobiographical sense or through the setting of particular poems. The chorus is wordless, but is used very effectively. The evocations of the four poets more or less generate a history of America from roughly 1835 to 1935, the year of composition. 

Although each movement has an elaborate dance scenario, we hear only the music here, which hangs together perfectly well. Poe and his descent (Symbolic Portrait) into madness is an interesting place to start a symphony and the movement becomes progressively more jagged and eventually hysterical. In the ballet scenario various ghostly figures appear which would only add to the gloomy feeling. McKay’s writing in the last part of this movement is some of his best ever. Totally different is Sidney Lanier, a poet not much read today and even going out of style in 1935. He is the inspiration for a Pastoral that is more in the typical McKay manner. It is descriptive of nature’s wonders in North America and makes very effective use of the women’s chorus. The middle sections describing the great rivers and the coda with chorus are especially serene. 

After classic American literature and the native landscape comes the inevitable movement west in the Whitman section (Westward!). This starts with the growth of American cities and then the inhabitants steadily moving west. I found the music here not as original as that of the first two movements, although the variant of the opening theme from the first movement that is used to describe Whitman is quite good and the music improves slightly as the prairies are conquered. At the end of the movement the triumphal tone begins to show a slight edge, which will lead us into the fourth movement. 

The last movement, Machine Age Blues, is the crux of the symphony and was encored at the premiere. Here, Machine, not Man, is the master and the skyscrapers are scarier than anything in the famous work of Carpenter. Multiple troubles assail America: the machinery; jazzy music symbolizing decadence and a very different City from Whitman’s time. They combine musically to portray a swift slide towards destruction. These musical elements later combine with satirical blues and cheap dances leading to a frenzied combination of all these musical components. On the stage Poe’s ghost reappears and those dancing to the cheap music do so to their end. Musically this is quite effective and I’m sure the visual element would add quite a bit more. This is not the “classic” American 1930s symphony of vision and optimism and I’m sure Roy Harris or Walter Piston wouldn’t have known what to do with it.

We are greatly in the debt of all involved in the production of this recording for showing us not only another side of McKay, but also a different musical view of a time in American history from the one that we usually get—one that is perhaps due to the composer and perhaps to the locale in which he was living. John Nardolillo is especially to be commended for maintaining almost constant interest in a piece that goes on for over an hour and at the same time lacks the visual element of its overall conception. Occasional longueurs or drops in tension seem to be less his fault than that of the composer. The orchestra, while not professional, gives their performance a great deal of enthusiasm and as said above, the choral preparation is first rate. The Singletary Center was perhaps not the greatest choice for this recording—it has a rather cavernous sound. This disc is very much for those who continue to be interested in McKay and his magnum opus on disc and to those looking for a different view of American musical history of this time.

Composed in 1935, Epoch: An American Dance Symphony was given an extremely favorable review at the premiere by both daily Seattle newspapers. The dance is based on American history as seen through the eyes of some of its greatest poets Edgar Allen Poe, Sidney Lanier, Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg, coincidentally all honored by the US Postal Service with stamps. The four sections of the work cover “Symbolic Portrait” (Poe), “Pastoral” (Lanier), and “Westward!” (Whitman), and “Machine Age Blues” (Sandburg) with the “Epilogue” the fifth episode unfinished with the comment from George that this is being prepared by time and will be written and enacted by us all.

“Symbolic Portrait” certainly touches upon the softer side of Poe as well as his curiosity of the ghastly side of life. The choreography ranged from romantic to the macabre (dance of death). While the music in parts is quite dark and dissonant (brass passages) George certainly maintained a melodic nature through the 14+ minutes with solos from harp, flute, and oboe, a struggle between good and evil.

“Pastoral”, featuring the University of Kentucky Women’s Choir, is a section of pure peace and tranquility. Lanier also played flute and composed, one of his works being Hymn of the Marshes (blackbirds) so the references to the birds could certainly have been one of the contributing factors when composing this second episode.

“Westward”, the third episode, is the Whitman section which depicts the beginning of the industrial age with timpani and brass type motif followed by the beckoning of the call of the mourning Cor Anglais to go west to the prairie to settle in the unknown and exciting new land. The episode also includes the movement of the wagons, a tom-tom Indian reference and a playing of the folk tune “Turkey In The Straw”, appropriate music as it was written in the early 19th century.

The fourth episode “Machine Age Blues” written about Carl Sandburg and likely in reference to his poetry in his book Smoke and Steel must have shocked the audience with its brash dissonant approach to the ’Steel Age’ of the early 20th century. Very much in the Gershwin style it includes riveting, jackhammers, and the sound of a very busy city. It also includes some slow blues, Charleston flapping featuring saxophones, and dance material of the era. Then it just suddenly builds to a loud crescendo and ends with the timpani motif, which started the beginning of the “Westward” episode.

Performed by the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and Women’s Chorus the recording sounded fine especially given the fact that this is very likely made up of students. The music is overall very melodic, and very easy to follow after reading the liner notes from the McKay family. To hear the music is like listening to a separate soundtrack from a film never viewed and this reviewer would be very interested to see firsthand a performance of the dance. One can hope that there will be future recordings from this excellent American composer. Recommended.