Belated Diamond premiere shines in IPO’s American program
The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra opened its 47th season Saturday night with “Three Great American Symphonies” under music director Stilian Kirov. The program was a joint effort with the American Music Project, a non-profit founded by Lawrence A. Johnson (editor of this site and its satellites) devoted to promoting American music of the past and present. The concert—AMP’s largest effort to date—was part of its 10th anniversary celebrations.
The early-evening performance at Ozinga Chapel in Palos Heights was an engaging look at the largely neglected American symphonic repertoire of the mid-20th century, as well as a testament to the sustained commitment and collaboration it takes to make arts organizations flourish and evolve.
David Diamond’s Symphony No. 2 from 1943 was heard in its Midwest premiere, and was the evening’s greatest revelation. Diamond was part of a cohort of American symphonists, along with the likes of Howard Hanson and Walter Piston, whose works were championed by Serge Koussevitzky at the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 1940’s. Diamond and his counterparts hewed to more classical forms, eschewing what he called the “creativity chaos” of serialism and other experimental genres ascendant at the time.
The Symphony No. 2 is unmistakably a wartime work, suffused with mourning and rumination. It begins with a 15-minute Adagio funèbre, in which a probing violin melody emerges from an abyss of low strings and timpani. There is an almost unremitting sense of brooding anguish, though Kirov was able to find the larger paragraphs amid the austerity, building Diamond’s dense textures to searing climaxes. A final diminuendo on open intervals conveyed a palpable sense of bleakness.
The ensuing Allegro vivo is industrially motoric, slightly too bitter to be called playful. Kirov forcefully conveyed this music’s mechanized aggression, a few shimmering final bars the only real relief. Another expansive slow movement follows with the Andante espressivo, quasi adagio, launched with wandering lines in the bassoon and clarinet. An atmosphere simultaneously reflective and resolute prevails, though there are moments of repose for unison violins and solo flute when time seems to stand still.
The concluding Allegro vigoroso is leaping and spirited. Preceded by so much darkness, there is a real sense of arrival and triumph after an arduous journey. Kirov and colleagues drove the work to its valedictory conclusion, receiving vigorous applause from the south suburban audience, particularly when Kirov held up the score.
Two smaller scale symphonies comprised the first half, each offering its own rewards. The performance opened with John Vincent’s Symphony in D (“A Festival Piece in One Movement”) from 1954, the composer’s only work in the genre and one he emphasized emerged from a particularly happy period in his life.
Beginning slowly in the low strings, upwardly striving lines gradually emerge conveying a sense of tentative yet growing optimism. This accelerates into the enthusiastic, celebratory body of the work, which is typified by an earnest sincerity of expression. It is easy to believe that Vincent was in a good mood when he wrote it, and one can even discern quotations from Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
Kirov led a solid account of Vincent’s jovial opus. He has done an admirable job continuing his predecessor David Danzmayr’s work of orchestra building, though there remained moments of dubious pitch in the woodwinds and higher strings. Still, Kirov and the orchestra are to be applauded for taking on the hugely ambitious project of three complex, new-to-them works in a single program.
Also heard was William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 3 “The Sunday Symphony” from 1958. While the work’s four movements in one sense convey the movement through a single day, they also reflect different aspects of a life grounded in spirituality, as the composer’s was. “The Awakening” has a striding, open-air feel, while “Prayer” is an extended lament, sustained by a plangent English horn solo that was beautifully rendered on Saturday.
“Relaxation” serves as the symphony’s scherzo, its easily chirping flutes capturing the lighter side of religious life. “Day’s End and a New Beginning” begins resolutely before becoming more lyrical, with a sense of both winding down yet gathering strength for the work ahead. Kirov led the work’s declamatory end with fitting gravitas.
The IPO performs Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 7:30 p.m. October 19 at the Center for the Performing Arts at Governors State University. ipomusic.org
The American Music Project closes its 10th anniversary season with a recital by pianist Emiko Edwards 3 p.m. November 3 at Ganz Hall. The program includes music of Aaron Copland, Paul Creston, Leon Kirchner, George Rochberg, Jennifer Higdon, Leo Ornstein and Meredith Monk. americanmuicproject.net
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Posted Sep 22, 2024 at 9:24 pm by George Speros
Stilian is the best of the best.