[Bill
Banfield; Thomas Wilkins conducts “Sweet Honey and the Rock” and
National Symphony Orchestra (Photo: Scott Suchman)]
April 17, 2012
Terry Ponick
WASHINGTON,
April 15, 2012 – Last weekend’s National Symphony Orchestra
concert at the Kennedy Center was, as the old Monty Python troupe
used to say, something “completely different.” Neither a pop
concert nor standard symphonic, Beethoven dominated fare, the entire
concert, staged on Friday and Saturday evenings only, was designed to
frame the world premiere of William C. Banfield’s “Symphony No.
10: Affirmations for a New World.”
An unusual collaboration of the composer and the popular à
cappella ensemble “Sweet Honey in the Rock,” the new symphony has
its roots in the rise of Barack Obama and celebrates, in its own way,
the successful conclusion of a very long and very troubled journey of
a people who have broken through impossible barriers at last.
In addition to featuring the singing (and the poetry) of Sweet
Honey in the Rock, Mr. Banfield’s symphony also incorporated work
for a large chorus, whose voices were supplied for this world
premiere by one of America’s premiere choral ensembles: Maryland’s
renowned Morgan State University Choir, currently under the direction
of Eric Conway.
.......................
Mr. Banfield’s symphony is constructed in roughly the
conventional four movement format—the exception being a two-part
movement yoked together by a single, sustained note as its mood
begins to change.
Each of the symphony’s four (or five) movements is built, in
turn, around jazzy, freeform poems created by each of Sweet Honey’s
five singing members. The music is tonal, engaging, and tastefully
scored; the poetry—ranging from elegy to gospel and nearly to
hip-hop—is rhythmic, passionate, and sincere; and the composition’s
overall effect is indeed one of affirmation.
The problem, though, is one that’s not exactly uncommon in 20th
and 21st
century works of art, whether written, painted, sculpted, or scored.
Both the symphony, and the poems upon which it is based, aspire to
make a Big Important Statement. In so doing, all of the above tends
to verge on the cliché, mistaking a grand pronouncement for a
profound one. Indeed, Sweet Honey’s poetry seems to have been
substantially revised and/or adapted from the verse that appeared in
the printed program. What was actually sung was a considerably more
refined, tightened, and shortened version of what appeared to be the
original verses.
Taken as a whole, last weekend’s concerts proved an unusual plus
for this NSO season. Audiences were treated to something
old—including a couple of war horses paired with some new ones that
deserve to be heard more often—and to something new—Mr.
Banfield’s symphony, created with the assistance of the amazingly
talented Sweet Honey in the Rock aided and abetted by the tightly
crafted, wonderful harmonies added by the Morgan State University
Choir.
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