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Until colleague Bill Eichenberger handed me a CD of The Juliet Letters, I had always assumed that Elvis Costello was an Elvis impersonator who for some reason took a weird last name.
Now I've learned that Costello aspires to be the next Franz Schubert, not the next Elvis Presley.
The Juliet Letters is a cycle of 20 very clever songs composed by the versatile Costello, with extensive input from members of the Brodsky Quartet.
He is the vocalist, and the Brodsky, one of England's hottest string quartets, accompanies, giving wonderfully colorful insight into the meaning of the songs. (Adolph Brodsky was a turn-of-the-century Russian violinist who premiered the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and ultimately settled in Great Britain.)
To my surprise, I liked The Juliet Letters. It may seem like hyperbole to compare this song cycle with the artistry and power of those by Schubert or Schumann. But there is definite quality here, pumped into a medium pretty much abandoned by today's academically trained composers.
And the music has originality. One can pick out many stylistic influences, or at least similarities to diverse musical styles.
But that matters less than the overall impression of genuineness imparted by the music, which solves the problem of "serious" vs. "popular" music in its own honest way.
The creators of this song cycle (mostly Costello) have written 20 imaginary letters and set them to music. Many serious subjects are dealt with, and the music strives but does not always successfully convey the emotional depth of the text.
Best in that regard is "Taking My Life in Your Hands," which briefly soars above the blander emotional plain most of the other songs seem to dwell upon.
Classical-music lovers have been adrift for decades — searching, waiting, hoping for contemporary music that is more than "intriguing" or "interesting" or "accomplished." We want new music that we can love in the unabashed way we love the abundant music from classical music's glorious past.
Music history shows us that classical music has always been enriched by popular music, and I tend to think history does repeat itself.
But it seems like each time this century someone (Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein) has demonstrated that tenet, they've been ripped to shreds by critics with a shallower, if shriller, view of music history. Critics who seem to think there must be something wrong with music that is capable of reaching a larger audience. That is a major reason audiences in our concert halls get smaller and smaller.
Has Elvis Costello found another direction? Maybe so.
In any case, he has a lot of people, different kinds of people, listening, and I think that's great.
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