On November 24, 2024, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra opened its 2024-25 MusicNow program with a concert of 5 intriguing works, 3 by Chicago native and CSO Mead Composer-Curator Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). Entitled Voices of Migration & Innovation, this was an inspiring presentation including 3 of DBR’s own compositions- one a world premiere- and 2 pieces by contemporary composers Brittany J. Green and Allison Loggins-Hull. The afternoon featured DBR himself performing on violin in the concluding work led by Music Director of the Oakland Symphony and Principal Conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony Kedrick Armstrong, CSO musicians in chamber quartet and moderate-sized ensemble, and a solo by CSO Principal Flute Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson,
DBR’s String Quartet No. 5, (Parks 2005), for 2 violins, viola and cello, is a touching tribute to Rosa Parks as representative of all women of courage who have stood up- (or sat down!) for justice and equity. This is a single-movement work divided in three primary sections: I Made Up My Mind Not to Move, Klap Ur Handz and Isorhythmiclationistic. The piece begins with a dissonant sense of being on the knife edge of tragedy; a feeling of importance and urgency lit by passion succeeds with impassioned strings. Then fulfilment descends in the higher registers, as Danny Lai on viola claps and stomps, crafting the beat. Spotlit from above in dim light, a rich quietude is reached.
Brittany J. Green’s shift.unravel.BREAK (2022) is a commanding 4-minute piece for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano that created an intellectual/visceral aural ambience, with tightly bound forms seeming to crack along the outer shell of sound, taking on the form of its title. To quote Green, who similarly commented on her work with the other composers and conductor, “Musical material forms and comes together out of silence and shift around the ensemble. As the material develops, it stretches and begins to unravel into a rhythmic frenzy before breaking into fragmented moments of sound and silence.”
The world premiere of DBR’s Uncertainty, Our Country, (2024) a CSO MusicNOW commission, is an exploration of contemporary sociopolitical constructs. Crafted for violin, viola, cello and piano, it began with a quiet, dreamy melody, thoughtful and deep. It’s a musical variation of a song many Americans think of as their National Anthem, My Country ‘Tis of Thee, by Samuel Francis Smith, and like the sense of that enduring hymn, it creates a soaring feeling of honor and dedication to larger ideals.
Allison Loggins-Hull’s Homeland (2018) for solo flute, given an inspired performance by Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, was composed immediately after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. Opening with spare flute calls and trills, the piece segues into distressed throbbing passages. Moments of joy are followed by moments of quietude. There’s a harkening to the sound of Francis Scott Key’s The Star Spangled Banner, and ultimately, a surround-sound ghosting of chimes.
DBR’s Voodoo Violin Concerto No. 1, (2002) is a super-exciting fusion of jazz, blues, folk and hoedown music. Led by Maestro Kedrick Armstrong, 10 members of the CSO joined DBR as he boogied on the violin, bowing away, or clasping the bow in his teeth while the instrument was electrified, plugged in and amped. DBR, who often mentions his Haitian roots, played that fiddle like a lead guitar, and the delighted CSO musicians joined with him in solo improvisational riffs, after a super-hot drum/vibraphone opening by Ian Ding and Cynthia Yeh. John Bruce Yeh, clarinet was visibly nodding in time; all were in sync and loving the new vibes. Rob Kassinger left his bass behind and performed on rhythm guitar. It was a rousing finale to a great session of new art music.
All photos by Anne Ryan Photography
For information and tickets to all the fine programming of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, go to www.cso.org
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