Poetry/Music: Book of Longing

Words and images by Leonard Cohen and music by Philip Glass



I've been listening to this work that Glass composed on a selection of Cohen's images and poems from his Book of Longing for over a week.

I wish I could say I love it, because the Cohen/Glass combination sounded irresistable to me and I greatly regretted being unable to attend the live performance of the song cycle when it came to the International Festival of the Arts in Wellington this year. Perhaps, on stage, in a theatre/festival setting it's more fulfilling.

Cohen's poetry is beautiful. I've read a few scathing reviews, calling is banal, but I find it moving, perfectly crafted, with a multitude of cultural references to make it interesting and challenging, but also the simplicity and precision I like in all types of writing. I thoroughly recommend this as a book.

The images are lovely and some of them even haunting. I wish I could see them in their real size.

I like the music, too, both for the songs and the instrumentation. Overall, I think the combination could have been perfect, if Glass had not chosen opera voices to sing it. The performers are good, but I don't think that the style of singing does the words (and the music) any favour. In fact, I found it a little jarring, at times quite boring, and this from someone who loves opera.

This is why, to me, the most effective moments are when we hear Cohen's own narrative voice recite his poetry over the score. I would be very interested to hear the whole work re-arranged and performed again in non-operatic style. It could be terrific.