OFS Launches Mells Project with 1st Symphony

Last night at Heron Arts, One Found Sound (OFS) officially launched its Herbert Franklin Mells Project, created to honor the little-known Black American composer of that name. The goal of the project is to spend the next five years devoted to preparing, performing, and recording the large orchestral works that Mells composed between 1938 and 1945. Given that OFS was conceived as an ensemble without a conductor, it will be interesting to see how a significant repertoire of unknown full-orchestra compositions will fare with performances that are all products of group dynamics.

The second half of last night’s program was devoted entirely to the first performance of a Mells composition. This was his first symphony, composed in the key of D minor and written in 1938 in partial fulfillment for a Master’s degree from Indiana University. This followed the conventional four-movement structure. However, unlike most symphonies, this one often served as a platform for the composer’s sense of humor.

Indeed, the raucous rhetoric of that humor brought to mind many of the wilder episodes in the music of Charles Ives; but Mells’ rhetoric was a far cry from Ives’ overt-the-top sense of humor. (In other words, Mells capacity for wit comes closer to Joseph Haydn than to Ives; but Mells was not always as subtle as Haydn could be.) It is also worth noting that Mells’ symphony was composed for a large ensemble, with a generous amount of brass and percussion complementing the strings and winds. The resulting performance emerged as a first-rate example of just how well OFS can perform as a large group without the leadership of a conductor.

The OFS capacity for highly-spirited rhetoric was evident from the very beginning of the program. The opening selection was Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 62 overture composed for Heinrich Joseph von Collin's 1804 tragedy Coriolan. This is one of the better examples of how Beethoven could summon listener attention by starting with a bang, and OFS definitely got its audience to sit up and take notice. What was interesting was how unprepared that audience was for the overture concluding by drifting off into silence.

This made for an accommodating transition to Quinn Mason’s “Reflections on a Memorial,” completed in September of 2020. It was first performed in San Francisco on July 2, 2021 in a program that conductor Edwin Outwater prepared for the San Francisco Symphony. Ironically, Mason’s program note does not identify a specific memorial. However, it is interesting that the first memorial for the World Trade Center was Tribute in Light, consisting only of two vertical beams of light first turned on in 2002, suggesting both physical and metaphorical reflection. Mason scored “Reflection” for a string orchestra, drawing upon the violas to introduce the first theme, a theme that reverberates throughout the piece all the way to a final performance by a solo cello.

Taken as a whole, last night was primarily a journey of discovery, rather than of familiarity. Nevertheless, OFS has developed a keen skill in their collective approach to establishing just about any rhetorical stance. Where the Mells symphony was concerned, that stance could not have been more compelling; and I, for one, am looking forward to learning more about his repertoire.