ArtsKnoxville.com: "The real eye-opener, and ear-opener, of the evening was Simon’s impressive 'Portrait of a Queen.' Written as his doctoral composition..."

 

Composer Carlos Simon

Arts Knoxville

March 27, 2021

Alan Sherrod

Review: KSO Continues Return to Live Performances with Carlos Simon's ‘Portrait of a Queen’

As the Covid-19 virus ravaged lives and livelihoods over the last year, those artists who had been on the verge of big moments and big careers seemed in serious peril. Thankfully, the young composer, Carlos Simon, seems to have weathered the career storm and potential loss of inertia that the pandemic has wrought. In its gradual, limited return to live audience performances, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra introduced Simon’s Portrait of a Queen on Thursday evening at the Tennessee Theatre to an audience that was probably making Simon’s musical acquaintance for the first time.

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Following the opening work, Joseph Haydn’s cleverly satisfying Symphony No. 85 (“The Queen”), Demirjian and the orchestra launched into a symphony by a Haydn contemporary, Joseph Boulogne, otherwise known by the title of Chevalier de Saint-Georges. As one of the many ironies of racism, Saint-Georges, the son of a wealthy French planter and an African slave, was educated in France and there became a renowned violinist, composer, and conductor, as well as a champion fencer. It was in his capacity as orchestra leader of the Concert Olympique that Saint-Georges commissioned and premiered the six “Paris” symphonies from Haydn that included the No. 85. The “should have been” here is that, despite his popular abilities and the favoritism of Queen Marie Antoinette who was an admirer of both composers, Saint-Georges’ career was stymied by those who refused to accept his mixed race status.

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Demirjian followed with an example of a “should have been” closer to home—the American composer Florence Price.

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Price’s Andante moderato for Strings, arranged from a movement of her String Quartet in G major, is lush, luscious, and lyrical, in this case, a welcome opportunity for the KSO strings to reclaim their ensemble strengths.

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The real eye-opener, and ear-opener, of the evening was Simon’s impressive Portrait of a Queen. Written as his doctoral composition at the University of Michigan in 2017—scored for strings, piano, percussion, some audio playback, and a female voice as a spoken narrator (text written by Courtney D. Ware)—the work is bold and charged with the energy and textures of struggle and hope. The narration was read with restrained power and obvious loving gravity in this performance by Knoxville’s Reneé Kesler.

Simon’s program notes describe the work: “This piece traces the evolution of black people in America through the lens of one figurative black woman who represents strength, courage and selflessness.”