The first big night of The Colour of Music, the
“Black Classical Musicians Festival,” filled Memminger Auditorium with
an abundance of smiles, hugs and ovations.
Newly
elected state Sen. Marlon Kimpson introduced the program with obvious
enthusiasm and a welcoming drawl, pointed out 91-year-old composer
George Walker, the first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize
for music and the author of the first piece of the evening. The ovation
for Walker set the tone for the evening to come.
The concert opened with Walker’s “Icarus in Orbit” from
2004. The orchestra struck a startling and staccato first chord followed
by a few seconds of silence. Then crept in with a pensive and reserved
horn section which was soon joined by the strings setting up an
ascending two-note motif that gradually developed into a more dense and
rich texture. As contrast and dissonance built, the piece became more
complex rhythmically, with jarring horn blasts and fast runs in the
strings.
After a few short, eerie breaths, the
composition became more harmonically complex and rhythmic as it reached
its apex, then descended with a solo flute flurry followed by three
sharp chords harkening back to the beginning.
The
performance continued with “Poem” by William Grant Still, written 60
years before Walker’s “Icarus.” It began with huge parallel melodies in
the brass, engaging in a call-and-response with the woodwinds and
strings. The orchestra then settled into a low sonorous, pastoral feel.
Conductor
Marlon Daniel wonderfully led the musicians through the intense
dynamics of turbulent mountain tops and peaceful valleys. The brass,
anchored by three trombones and a tuba, offered as rich a tone at their
lowest volumes as at their most triumphant.
As Daniel became more animated with his baton, certain members of the orchestra began to follow suit.
Principal
oboist Hassan Anderson seemed especially moved. Perhaps because Still
was an oboist, he wrote a particularly lively oboe part, but something
more than that seemed to be taking place. The players, while
concentrated on their conductor, also interacted with one another.
Violinist were smiling at each other or nodding across to the violas.
Bassists were reacting to all the music, not just the dots written on
their particular pages.
The first half of the
evening’s performance concluded with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade
in A Minor, a spirited piece, also relying heavily on a powerful brass
section.
...
The
stage filled with the orchestra, festival chorale, conductor and four
soloist, bringing the number of performers to nearly 90 for the final
composition, “The Ordering of Moses,” by R. Nathaniel Dett.
Composed
in 1937, Dett’s oratorio mixes African-American spirituals with
classical music and operatic singing. Lasting close to an hour, this
ambitious work never had a dull moment.
...
The chorus provided the perfect
support, either grounding the soloists or cajoling them to new heights.
The orchestra showed great restraint and skill at accompanying the
singers. Notable were principal cellist Kenneth Law and principal
bassoonist Feleighta Green, who played with great expression in the
transitions between the seven sections of the piece.
The
concert concluded with a rousing ovation, manifest sense of pride and
joyful camaraderie. The Colour of Music Festival is the start of
something very important and special in Charleston.
Reviewer Jonathan Gray is a musician, teacher and writer.
[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, R. Nathaniel Dett, William Grant Still, and George Walker are profiled at AfriClassical.com,
which
features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography for Coleridge-Taylor, Dett and Still by Prof.
Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.]
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