The joy of art song is, yes of course, in the beauty of the music, but it is especially in the interaction of music and poetry. Last year I saw the film A Complete Unknown and it featured some nice excerpts of Bob Dylan’s classic sixties songs, plus some Joan Baez and others. It struck me that Dylan and Baez were really torchbearers of the art-song genre, since so much of their output is “poetry set to music.” Of course one could argue that all song lyrics are poetry, but I’ll make a slight case for a distinction here on the basis of how “heightened” or “artsy” or “abstract” the lyrics may be. In Dylan’s case, it often feels like the music is in service to something unusually serious and cerebral in the poetry. Another group that gives me this feeling is the Grateful Dead, when they are playing songs on lyrics by the ever-imagistic and mood-building Robert Hunter. Lots of others could fit this bill, too, and I’m certainly not here to argue against any songwriter for inclusion in this lineage. My point is just to highlight this concept: poetry set to music. Not just a catchy lyric to go with a catchy tune, not just a single straightahead sentiment (like “please be mine,” “I love you,” or “I’m sad you’re not mine”), but something more ethereal and complex. This is the gift, too, of art song.

I have been posting little essays here as previews to my February 6th and 7th recitals with Victoria Kirsch: one essay for each of the cycles we are performing. My first post in this series included general observations about the genre of art-song as a whole; if you’ve not read that one, I recommend you have a look! The last cycle I am going to highlight for our program is a fantastic three-song set by a living composer, and my friend, Dr. Mark Carlson. Carlson’s This is the Garden sets three poems by the ever-exuberant E.E. Cummings (Mark advises me that capitalizing all three initials is correct, although I am still very attracted to the lowercase styling, e.e. cummings, which was used in publishing and criticism for so much of the twentieth century…something about it suits the whimsy and earthiness I associate with Cummings’ work). Instead of another meditation from me (and since, unlike Schumann, Ravel, and Barber, Carlson still lives and breathes) I thought it would be a special treat to do this blog post in the form of an interview with the composer. Please enjoy this back-and-forth on Mark’s extraordinary career, and what listeners can expect to experience on Thursday and Friday:

What could classical songs have to do with the sound of urine tinkling in a chamber-pot?

The Goal of Living is to Grow, my song recital with the wonderful Victoria Kirsch, will be taking place next Thursday, February 6 2025, and next Friday, February 7 2025, in Tacoma and Seattle respectively. We are presenting a wonderful selection from the repertoire of the art song, and I’ve been moved to share my thoughts on each of the song-cycles we are presenting here in blog form. If you go back two posts in this blog, you’ll find my article on Schumann’s Liederkreis, op. 39, which explains a little general information about the genre of art-song as a whole, particularly the satisfying marriage of poetry and music in this genre.

It all begins with an idea.