The New York Repertory Orchestra is the kind of ensemble every classical music community needs. They’re not as polished as the New York Philharmonic or the orchestras that visit Carnegie Hall, and they give fewer than 10 concerts a season.
But even in a city with eight million people, there is only one full-scale, full-time local professional orchestra—a sad state of affairs when one considers how cities in Europe publicly support multiple high-level ensembles.
But under music director David Leibowitz, the New York Repertory Orchestra brings to life terrific works from the classical tradition that one won’t hear in Carnegie Hall and like venues, because . . . well, who really knows? The advantage and value the NYRO delivers is that, freed from major influence of marketing departments, it can just play worthwhile music.
Saturday night at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, that meant Norman Dello Joio’s Meditations on Ecclesiastes and the Symphony No. 2 by William Grant Still, along with a world premiere from composer Peri Mauer.
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After intermission, concertmaster and assistant conductor Stephan Fillare took the podium to lead Still’s symphony, subtitled “Song of a New Race.” The last of a trilogy of symphonic works from the composer, the symphony expresses Still’s hope for a racially integrated America, and was premiered by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1937.
Even more neglected than the work of Dello Joio, this is a wonderful symphony on its own terms, and is an important American work. Still uses his own original conceptions of folk tunes, 19th-century dance steps, and blues and jazz in a well-made form, and thus shows how vital American classical music is when it builds out of the black music origins that are an essential part of this country’s culture.
The playing felt relaxed and assured, with the musicians making a meaningful statement. It was delightful to hear this sound of a grounded, witty, urbane modern culture brought to life by the orchestra.
