Classical Album Review: Carlos Simon’s “Four Symphonic Works”
By Jonathan Blumhofer
Carlos Simon’s gifts and voice are real even, as with every composer, his muse sometimes leads him down errant pathways.
Few composers are hotter commodities today than Carlos Simon. Currently the Boston Symphony’s composer chair, the Washington, D.C.-based musician has been affiliated with the National Symphony Orchestra for several years and that ensemble features on this new compendium of his orchestral works out on their in-house label.
The biggest and most compelling item here is Tales, A Folklore Symphony. Drawing on various strands of African American history and culture, Simon’s crafted a score that sounds like it belongs in the pantheon of great American symphonies.
Its four movements certainly understand that contrast breeds drama and the music’s expressive range is wide, from the motoric, colorful “Motherboxx Connection” to the shimmering “Flying Africans” and the stormy fantasy on the Spiritual “Go Down, Moses.” Likewise gritty and stirring is the concluding “John Henry.”
Also bracing is The Block, a curtain raiser inspired by six paintings by Romare Bearden. Brightly lit and ecstatic, it’s an effort that ably showcases Simon’s impressive command of the orchestra.
Alas, inventive instrumentation only carries the remaining fare – Songs of Separation and Wake Up! Concerto for Orchestra – so far.
The former utilizes texts by Rumi (in translation by Coleman Barks) that deal with loss and separation. Composed during the pandemic, the settings effectively showcase mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges’ instrument as well as the orchestra.
Yet the larger work feels unduly restrained. The second song, “Burning Hell,” would benefit from a dose or two of Berlioz; the subsequent setting of “Dance” would function as a truer respite if that were the situation. What’s more, the spoken sequence in “We Are All the Same” doesn’t really justify itself; neither do some of the repetitions of (sung) texts in earlier songs.
Ultimately, there’s the sense that Simon is too caught up in the cycle’s message (“we’re all one”) than focused on taking necessary musical risks. Mahler, for instance, does the last within four songs and provides a strong sense of progression as a result. So, for that matter (though in five songs), do Aaron Jay Kernis and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Unfortunately, Songs of Separation lacks a similar imperative.
So does Wake Up!, which exhibits a comparable command of ensemble married to facile thematic content. Inspired by a poem by Rajendra Bhandari, the effort aims (like Songs of Separation) to instill a social message – essentially to be awake, socially, to the world around us – in its hearers.
Noble as that goal is, the question of whether or not this work is the vehicle to accomplish as much remains open. True, the two-note (“wake up!”) motive is clear enough and there’s lots of idiomatic writing for the orchestra.
But nothing really adds up. For all its energy, its darting hither and yon, its harmonic friendliness, its mix of gestural and traditional techniques, its blazing colors, Wake Up seems to paradoxically lack personality – or at least a distinct, dramatic point of view. Ultimately, the music’s facelessness makes for a long twenty-minute listen.
Nevertheless, the performances of all the album’s selections from Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony hardly want for vigor or understanding. The orchestra’s command of Simon’s idiom is total and it’s clear they’ve lived with his music for a while. Bridges sings luminously in Songs of Separation.
Additionally, despite its shortcomings, there’s more than enough on offer to make one want to hear more from Simon, too. His gifts and voice are real even, as with every composer, his muse sometimes leads him down errant pathways.
Jonathan Blumhofer is a composer and violist who has been active in the greater Boston area since 2004. His music has received numerous awards and been performed by various ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic, Camerata Chicago, Xanthos Ensemble, and Juventas New Music Group. Since receiving his doctorate from Boston University in 2010, Jon has taught at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and online for the University of Phoenix, in addition to writing music criticism for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.