On October 10, 2024, in a concert that was reprised the following day, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by American conductor Marin Alsop and featuring Czech guest pianist Lukáš Vondráček, presented a diverse program of works by Chopin, Rachmaninoff (in encore) and Shostakovich at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan, Chicago. However, it was the first piece on the program, Chuphshah! Harriet’s Drive to Canaan, a tribute to the famous abolitionist Harriet Tubman, composed by James Lee III, that was the evening’s showstopper.
Chuphshah means freedom in Hebrew; this 14 ½ minute work was commissioned by The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in 2010. Lee is a past Composer-In-Residence with the BSO, and Alsop is Music Director Laureate (and OrchKids Founder) at that entity; she introduced Lee by noting, “He wrote this piece for me”. The conductor and composer are further connected: Alsop is Chief Conductor at The Ravinia Festival, summer home of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra; in 2022, a piece commissioned of Lee by The Ravinia Steans Music Institute premiered at the Festival under Alsop’s baton. String Quartet No. 3, (Untranslatable), was also performed just prior to the October 10th concert by musicians from The Civic Orchestra of Chicago in Symphony Center’s Grainger Ballroom at a reception given by the CSO African American Network. The AAN hosted Lee as the inaugural event for its 2024-25 season, Celebrating Black Excellence in Classical Music and Beyond.
For those patrons who attended both the reception and the concert, it was an opportunity to hear Lee describe creating the 5 movements of Untranslatable, and to hear 2 unique pieces of his new art music. Lee, who has mastered more than a few languages, has used Hebrew terms and Jewish holiday references in several of his works. In 2019, the CSO led by Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena, performed Sukkot through Orion’s Nebula, 2011, a jubilant, highly tonal piece, propelled- as is Chuphshah– by percussive bursts and driving rhythm. Sukkot is a major Jewish holiday and the piece includes the sound of the ram’s horn or shofar manifested in the French horn and trumpet. Sukkot and Chuphshah are both included in a 2022 ArkivMusic recording entitled Voyages with Alsop conducting the ORF, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra in a project entirely comprised of Lee’s work.
The 3rd movement of Untranslatable, dreamy and lyrical, is called Chesed, the Hebrew word for lovingkindness, and also the title of one of the spheres in the mystical Tree of Life. The other movements are Nhujuanya, (Nigerian for tragedy); Iktsuarpok, (Inuit for anticipation); Saudade, (Brazilian for desire), and Elation. The double violins, viola and cello produced sounds evoking the titled emotions, ranging from moody atonality to rich sentimental color. Incidentally, in 2012 The Ritz Chamber Players gave the world premiere of Night Visions of Kippur (piano quintet) in Seattle’s Meany Hall; Kippur means “to cleanse” in Hebrew; the instant concerts took place just before the Jewish High Holiday, Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement.
This erudite and highly creative composer takes listeners on sweeping journeys through time, place and reference point. Biblical imagery is linked with religious and secular references, some familial, others universal. Both works presented in the reception and the main program were delightfully entertaining, spirited and energetic. Chuphshah has a rapid-fire opening followed by multiple frenetic rhythms and brassy accents. Tubman is represented throughout by the English horn, and references to songs and spirituals of the Civil War era and its aftermath are quoted. Near the end strings and oboe emit the final line of The Battle Hymn of The Republic; none of this evocation is heavy-handed or overtly sentimental, but instead is subtle and pleasing to the ear.
Alsop is a uniquely strong and dynamic conductor; she is intimately familiar with this great Orchestra, and drove the concert forward, sans score. Vondráček is a remarkably deft artist with a delicate touch. He and the CSO gave a splendid account of Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, 1829-30, filling Orchestra Hall with its tender sonorities. The orchestra supported the pianist throughout, while the soloist gave full vent to Chopin’s inventive melodic line, especially in the larghetto, called by critics “an exquisite tone poem”. The allegro concluding the work is dazzingly inventive, and the pianist displayed true virtuosity in the culminating coda.
In encore, Vondráček presented a stirring rendition of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3 Number 2, 1892, crafted when the composer was just 19 years old, newly graduated from The Moscow Conservatory, and yet destined to become one of his most famous works, used in numerous films, and demanded as an encore by audiences at Rachmaninoff’s own performances. Comprised of 3 main sections and a coda, it opens with a 3 note set of tones that becomes the essential theme, is followed by a dominating expression, and closes quietly.
The last piece on the program was Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47, 1937, a 46-minute complex and serious formal exposition of form. 5 presents a musical language of clear-cut intent, extended and memorable melodies, and a strong upbeat fanfare in closing. The first movement allegro is a display of shifting tempi, the allegretto that follows moderately light-hearted in spirit. The largo is a fine demonstration of the beauty of the strings, played with intensity and deep control by the CSO, the finale a showpiece for the great Chicago brass with a rich meld of percussion.
The next CSO/AAN event will be an afterparty at 4:30 pm for the 3:00 pm Sunday, November 24, 2024 MusicNow concert at Symphony Center, featuring the work of Daniel Bernard Roumain and his contemporaries. Roumain is known for his versatile compositions, blending electronic and African American influences.
For information and tickets to all the fine programming of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its cohorts, go to www.cso.org.
All photos by Todd Rosenberg Photography.
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