Chorale Prelude on "Abide With Me"

William Bolcom (b. 1938, Seattle) is one of America’s most versatile composers, whose works span concert music, opera, cabaret, ragtime, and song. He studied with John Verrall, Darius Milhaud, and Olivier Messiaen, earning degrees from the University of Washington, Mills College, and Stanford. From 1973–2008 he was Ross Lee Finney Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan, where he influenced generations of composers.

Bolcom received the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for his 12 New Etudes for Piano, two Guggenheim Fellowships, two Grammy Awards (for Songs of Innocence and Experience), and the National Medal of Arts. He has been commissioned by leading orchestras and opera companies worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, which premiered his operas McTeague, A View from the Bridge, and A Wedding. With lyricist Arnold Weinstein, he wrote four volumes of Cabaret Songs. As a pianist, he and his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, have toured widely and recorded extensively, championing ragtime and American popular song.

Chorale Prelude on “Abide With Me” (1970) is an early prelude written a few days after the death of Bolcom’s father. It is a short, mournful setting treated in a four-voice Baroque style. Each phrase of the melody (played in the left hand) is separated by short interludes. (Program notes by Michael Mazzatenta.)

This is a taste of the beta version of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Rieger organ. I chose the Great’s 4′ Clairon for the solo voice; the accompaniment is from the Positive: soft strings and flutes 16′ and 8′, and these couple to the pedal.