Live Log 2024: Black Celebration
Live Log 2024: Black Celebration
A New York premiere by Nathalie Joachim was but one highlight at the New York Philharmonic's night of Afromodernism.
The last time I made it to the Wu Tsai Theater at David Geffen Hall, I grumbled good-naturedly about having to sit through a Brahms concerto in between a stunning Zosha di Castri premiere and the first revisit of Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra in decades. Thanks to the banner of Exploring Afromodernism, I had no such complaints about the spectacular concert the New York Philharmonic put on for Thursday and Friday, October 17th and 18th. The lineup included works by Black composers, two living and two who have passed on, encompassing a rich heritage of music that needs no assistance from warhorses.
The main draw for me was the New York premiere of Nathalie Joachim’s Had To Be (2024), a piece for cello and orchestra. Commissioned by the NY Phil to be played by the incredible Seth Parker Woods, who included Joachim’s The Race 1915 and Dam mwen yo on his searing album, Difficult Grace, it promised a perfect combination of composition and execution. But all the pieces were in place for a fantastic evening of music from start to finish.
Carlos Simon
Opening the night was Carlos Simon’s lively Four Black American Dances (2023), which the NY Phil first played in Central Park last summer. It’s an ideal opening gambit for nearly any concert. The orchestra is his playground in Ring Shout, the first movement, with sleek, swirling strings, caterwauling brass, and clattering percussion. The orchestra threw themselves on every swing, slide, and climbing structure created by Simon. Ring Shout is such an exciting piece that the audience burst into spontaneous applause, and we continued to clap between movements throughout the concert. Waltz, the second movement, transformed the NY Phil into the world’s greatest ballroom orchestra, with the pizzicato basses a thing of wonder.
The elegant Thomas Wilkins, the principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, among other positions, held the baton for the evening. During the Waltz, I admired the economy and precision of his gestures and his laser focus on every rhythmic and dynamic shift. Simon’s final two movements, Tap! and Holy Dance, returned to the playground, with drama, detail, and a sense of adventure. Four Black Dances shows another facet of Simon’s deep talents and should be played across the land, preferably as an opener for his shattering Requiem For The Enslaved.
Nathalie Joachim
After a brief stage reset, Woods entered, stunningly attired in a frilly white shirt and silver pants, a refreshing contrast to Wilkins’ loose black attire. Wanting to have my own experience of the work, I only looked at the program notes to see the instrumentation, noting the inclusion of offstage trumpet, trombone, and snare drum players.
The first movement, Homegoing, began with those offstage players in full flight. Wild and raucous, their chaotic, joyful noise referred to Joachim’s Haitian ancestors and New Orleans funeral marches. It proved to be a theatrical masterstroke, creating a sense of drama and sorrow for the sounds made by those typically barred from the concert hall. The mournful, spare opening by the orchestra and Woods made that elegiac narrative crystal clear. Joachim’s orchestration revealed an absolutely original approach, with the NY Phil remade in her imagination.
Some of the raucous offstage fun came onstage in Flare, the second movement, Woods working through a series of angles in dialogue with the kit drummer. The subdued nature of some of Homegoing returns in With Grace, the final movement, but now it’s full-on somber, with Woods unfurling a yearning melody over a bed of mournful strings while flute and piccolo provided shafts of light and hope. A deeply absorbing section follows, touching on the conventional use of the orchestra, but with Joachim’s brand new perspective holding firm. An aching cello solo with only a vibraphone to support it plays the piece to its stunning, stark finale.
Had To Be was an utter triumph, with a rich landscape open to whatever interpretation you feel. While my view of it was musically focused, the program notes related that Joachim and Woods were inspired by a shared “interest in Black dandyism, a style that celebrates individuality by defying stereotypes, blending European menswear and African elements.” Of course, that statement is easily translated to music as well. The title comes from Tommie Smith’s statement after he raised the Black Power fist at his Olympic medal ceremony in 1968. “We had to be seen because we had to be heard.” Joachim’s new piece should be seen as well as heard by as many people as possible, hopefully in a world-class recording soon to be made.
David Baker
After the intermission, we were treated to Kosbro, a piece by David Baker last played by the NY Phil in 1976. I was surprised to find myself completely ignorant of Baker, who died in 2016 after composing over 2,000 pieces, but felt better when Joachim told me she hadn’t heard of him either. We both agreed that Kosbro, written in 1973 and revised in 1975, was a total blast. A brief busy piece that rolls through its motions like an expert in command of a fine automobile, Kosbro features transparent strings (does it get any better than the NY Phil??), florid brass and woodwinds, and blazing percussion. Wilkins had everyone working together like a well-oiled machine. While I heard some of the ‘70s swagger implied by the title (an acronym for Keep on Steppin’ Brothers) there was nothing to date the piece, which is full of melody and color with Baker at least as engaged with ‘70s Shostakovich as funk, soul, and jazz. I’m attempting a deep dive on Baker but recordings are less than plentiful and little I’ve heard so far hits the same peaks as Kosbro. But I will keep trying and look forward to finding The Black Composer Speaks, a book he co-edited in 1978. There are a couple of fine recordings of Kosbro, with this one shooting off the most sparks.
William Grant Still
The night closed with a long overdue performance of William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 4, Autochthonous, composed in 1947 but never played by the New York Phil. I’ve enjoyed the Detroit Philharmonic’s recording of Still’s Symphony No. 2, Song Of A New Race for years, but hadn’t expanded my knowledge beyond his string quartets. Still’s customary warmth was evident from the first moments of Autochthonous, with lovely, shaded writing for the strings and an episodic quality to the tunes and rhythms that followed. While not directly narrative, you feel like you’re in the hands of a great storyteller. After taking us through winding paths, the movement ended with a big finale constructed of gregarious gestures. The second movement was pastoral in a way both Copland and Beethoven would recognize with those strings (plus harp) luxuriating in the sweep of it all. Then came a second subject, Still taking flight on the wings of gospel and jazz, with a songlike form that led to a brooding, yet lush landing.
The third movement, marked by Still as “Moderately fast - humorously, the American idiom,” confronted swing head-on with sprightly rhythms and colorful melodies that took full advantage of the brass and woodwinds. Joachim was dancing in her seat by the time the short movement ended, seemingly with a chuckle, as if Still was saying, yep, I went there! The fourth movement returned to sweeping storytelling, if even more cinematic than the opening. Location: the American West, or at least West Hollywood. It moved through a series of tunes that probably had the great American songbook checking for pillaged pages before gathering itself for a suitably dramatic finale.
It was a fantastic concert and a great reminder of what an institution like the New York Philharmonic can accomplish when it fires on all cylinders from conception to actuation. I continue to be impressed by the Wu Tsai Theater for its sound, seating, and sightlines. My only complaint is that there wasn’t a Joachim Nightcap in the Sidewalk Studio. Hearing her and a small group sail through performances from Ki moun ou ye, which came out in February and landed on my Best Of 2025 (So Far), would have been the perfect way to end the night!
From the archive:
Live Log 2023: A Thorvaldsdottir Nightcap
Record Roundup: Fall Classics, Vol. 1
Record Roundup: Unclassifiable
Valerie Coleman’s Utopia