R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
(Library of Congress)
August 4, 2019
Deep and Profound Along the Charles
by Julie Ingelfinger
Its concert delayed by a day by weather until Thursday, Boston
Landmarks Orchestra benefited from a gorgeous evening, replete with
profound African-American music and composers to showcase work reaching
far beyond its roots.
***
WCRB’s
Laura Carlo, as well as Wilkins, provided introductory remarks
reaffirming the intent of the late Charles Ansbacher, Landmarks’
founder, to create tolerance with musical accessibility. The evening
importantly featured not only the regular ensemble, but also Boston
Landmarks One City Choir under the talented David F. Coleman directing
its city-wide and Coro Allegro ― Boston’s LGBTQ+ and allied classical
chorus ― with its artistic director, David Hodgkins. The touch of
advisor, the Reverend Emmett Price, III, enhanced the entire evening.
The initial half celebrated the African Diaspora, with the “Deep River”
theme adaptively connecting the black and multicultural communities and
people from Boston’s varied neighborhoods. Fittingly, near the Hatch
Shell, the Charles River attains its greatest depth.
The versatile
composer, performer and polymath, William Grant Still (1895-1978), a
central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, wrote his prize-winning Festive Overture
towards the end of the Second World War (1944). Tonight, a hint of the
military, evident in Still’s opening pentatonic fanfare, played clearly
by the brass, reminisced much African and Afro-Caribbean music. The
theme shifted subtly to the violins. The trumpet section then briefly
sounded a flourish. The second theme flowed expressively, followed by an
easy restatement of the themes, conferring an optimistic mood. Children
in the audience danced spontaneously from the start, and a music-loving
and well-behaved dog barked only at the end of most offerings (the pup
continued to contribute its bark to the applause, earning a benignly
amused comment from Maestro Wilkins).
George Walker (1922-2018, the first African-American graduate of Curtis Institute) wrote what is now entitled Lyric for Strings
as part of his first string quartet. In it, three arching segments
present distinct voices interweaving and heading upwards and then
enfolding within themselves. For my taste, this was the orchestral
pinnacle of the evening, given the excellent musicians in the string
sections. Though Walker garnered a Pulitzer Prize in music for his Lilacs
for voice and orchestra, his Lyric for Strings is at least as worthy.
The orchestral execution created the yearning sense fitting for this
work and its initial title, Lament.
Four deeply-rooted
spirituals then came in moving performances. Elvy Powell’s profoundly
resonant bass-baritone voice has graced events for six US Presidents,
and became the soul of the evening with his stirring and heartbreaking
renditions of Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel (arranged by Lawrence Brown) and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
(arranged by the late composer pianist, Margaret Bonds). When Powell
sings, the ground reverberates! And the rising young Chicago-based
soprano, Sirgourney Cook, sang Bonds’ versions of Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho and, I got a Home in the Rock.
The
British Michael Tippett, the only non-African-American composer in the
first half, adapted the soothing strength of spirituals in composing A Child of our Time, an oratorio in which an arrangement of Deep River
profoundly anchors the last movement. Soprano Cook, and tenor, Davron
Monroe, as well as mezzo soprano, Myran Parker-Brass and bass, the Hon.
Milton Wright, sang this iconic rendition. Their strong voices lent
fitting character to the work.
Monroe, who holds a Masters in Music in opera from Longy, soloed along with the chorus in R. Nathaniel Dett’s, Chariot Jubilee, orchestrated by Hale Smith.
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