An “All-American” Evening in Detroit

Yesterday evening my wife and I once again shared our dinner with a live-streamed performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). The advance material I received described the program as a celebration of “a wide variety of American musical cultures.” That variety included multiple conductors. Three of the selections had “roots” in American spirituals. They were conducted by Alice McAllister Tillman, Artistic Director of the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, a vocal ensemble with two vocal soloists performing, tenor Darrius Washington and bass Brandon Hodges. Accompaniment by DSO was augmented by pianist Alvin Waddles.

The set was introduced with an instrumental fanfare, “Fanfare for Universal Hope” by James Lee III. However, it was the spirit behind the words that drew listener attention. Tillman’s command of the vocal work was consistently precise, but it was her capacity to modulate intensity that maintained that attention. The foundation for these performances may have been “traditional;” but, in the context of the currently global political climate, the music provided an almost comforting sustenance to get beyond governance that often feels as if it has been reduced to petty whims. Indeed, for all I know, those whims had been taken as Lee’s target for “universal hope.”

Carl Van Vechten’s photograph of William Grant Still restored by Adam Cuerden (available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, from Wikipedia Web page)

These opening selections amounted to an “overture in several movements.” They were followed by the usual “ingredients” of a concert program. The “concerto” for the program was “Troubled Water,” composed by Carlos Simon for trombone and orchestra; and the symphony that concluded the program had the title “Autochthonous.” This was the fourth of the five symphonies composed by William Grant Still.

I must confess that, in this performance, the concerto drew far more of my attention than the symphony did. One reason may have been that it began with a duo for trombone and piccolo. The second movement cited the spiritual “Steal Away,” given a throughly engaging solo violin performance. The final movement then explicitly evoked the concerto’s title by incorporating another spiritual, “Wade in the Water.” Each of these movements said what it had to say without straining the patience of the listener, while the Still symphony seemed to be so wrapped up in structural details that even the most attentive listener would grow tried prior to the conclusion.