Symphony Review: St Louis Symphony Shines in New and Familiar Works
Music inspired by political and social upheaval
Music is often directly inspired by events in our social environment. This certainly held true in the St Louis Symphony Orchestra’s compelling program offered in its February 6 Coffee Concert at the newly renovated Powell Symphony Hall.
Symphony Preview, February 6 and 7: The Three Rs
This weekend (Friday and Saturday, February 6 and 7) the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra welcomes guest conductor Xian Zhang and, in his SLSO debut, saxophone soloist Steven Banks fo…
After an informative pre-concert lecture by symphony keyboardist Peter Henderson, the program opened with an energized reading of RE/member, a tender and robust overture for orchestra. Chicago-born composer Reena Esmail created the work during the lockdown related to the COVID-19 epidemic as she was serving as Artist-in Residence at the Seattle Symphony. It was performed at the first concert of the orchestra as it resumed performing. The title referenced the act of the orchestra coming back together; coalescing one again in performance.
The “RE’ in the title simply personalizes the authorship by referencing the composer’s own initials. The work opens and closes with a plaintive and nostalgic solo oboe, played beautifully from the balcony by principal oboist Jelena Dirks. As the other voices join, we hear a distinct compilation of traditional Western music and threads of Hindustani musical styles. The strings in their lower range were irresistible, particularly in their raga-inspired swooping melodies. This new work, in a SLSO premier, is a worthy addition to their repertoire and something I hope to hear again.
The opening piece was followed with another SLSO premier, the saxophone concerto Diaspora by Billy Childs. Created expressly for soloist Steven Banks. Today’s soloist, the three-movement work strives to chronicle the paradigm of the forced Black American diaspora, as sifted through the prism of the composer’s own experience as a Black man in America. Each movement was based on a poem by three poets whose work captures aspects of Black history and experience.
The first movement, “Motherland”, was inspired by the poem “Africa’s Lament” by Nayyirah Waheed. Led by solo soprano saxophone, the music initially evokes a sense of security and well-being of Africans living together in their homeland, presenting a lovely purity of rich, lush harmonies. Tension is introduced to reflect the battles of conquest and the clash between African rulers and the slave traders, and the movement ends with a solo cadenza echoing the opening melody, this time foreshadowing the transport to slave ships. Soloist Steven Banks created an astonishingly warm and resonant yet urgent tone through his solo work on soprano saxophone.
Banks turned to lower alto saxophone for the impactful second movement, inspired by “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay. Childs used a growing texture of rapid scales and strident brass interruptions to capture the tragedy and violence of people being packed into ships for the Middle Passage and arriving in America, where families are torn apart and human beings sold like cattle. Banks’s again expressed an urgency of despair in his virtuosic playing.
The last movement gradually moved from tragedy to a confident sense of purpose. Maya Angelou’s landmark work “And Still I Rise” serves as the inspiration for this movement, building on a familiarity with Black church music traditions but gradually elevating the communal experience with a rousing march and final triumphant fanfare. Beginning on alto sax and switching to soprano for the final moments, Banks’s soaring interpretation provided a palpable sense of the struggle and growth at the root of the composition.
Sergei Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony constituted the second half of the program. Prokofiev composed this symphony in 1944 after returning to his native Russia after a number of years in the United States. For a war-time composition, the symphony is anchored in relative warmth and a tentative optimism, far different from other war-time music so often rooted in horror and suffering.
The first movement almost stands alone as a lush and triumphant celebration. Built on expert work from the orchestra’s able woodwinds, the spirit is taken up by the strings, here playing astonishing unison, building to a smashing resolution. This is followed by a rhythmic, sprightly scherzo and a hauntingly beautiful Adagio. The finale begins with a calm restatement of the original theme played by cello choir but quickly grows to a joyous celebration involving the entire orchestra.
The ensemble played with great spirit throughout. The woodwinds performed particularly beautifully; special note goes to Scott Andrews for his eloquent clarinet solos throughout the work.
The orchestra played under the capable and energetic leadership of guest conductor Xian Zhang. Maestro Zhang serves as conductor of the Seattle Symphony and has a rich resume of conducting orchestras across the world. She was able to expertly lead the skilled musicians of the symphony through a thoroughly enjoyable and impressive performance.
The orchestra repeated the program on Saturday evening, February 7.
Upcoming: Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the score from the 1984 film Amadeus, accompanying a showing of the movie. Performances are 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14, at Powell Symphony Hall.