Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincysymphony continued its 2025-26 season with a unique program titled American Voices under music director Cristian Măcelaru, focusing primarily on composers or music that honors the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr, in anticipation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day this coming Monday.
The orchestra opened with a recently rediscovered work by African American composer Margaret Bonds: four short movements from her Montgomery Variations, using a new critical edition prepared by Bonds scholar John Michael Cooper. Based on the spiritual I Want Jesus to Walk With Me, it displays a musical language similar to that of Florence Price and William Dawson while drawing much of its extra- musical inspiration from early events of the Civil Rights Movement such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. While it is one of the few orchestral works Bonds wrote (as she was primarily a composer of art songs and choral music), it is a strong, impactful work that deserves to be heard more often.
Bass-baritone Morris Robinson then joined the orchestra in the dual role of narrator and vocal soloist, beginning with the reading of a newly-commissioned poem by Rita Dove accompanied by Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. Robinson has one of the most profound and inspiring speaking voices that I have heard yet, with weight and gravitas that carried through to all corners of Music Hall. His resplendent singing voice was put on full display in three songs by Bonds, Aaron Copland and Harry Burleigh (using new arrangements by Joseph Trefler).
Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony is a work which Maestro Mǎcelaru has ardently championed in recent years, thanks in no small part to a successful live recording he made with the Philadelphia Orchestra. His new home orchestra here in Cincinnati brought three of its more extended movements spectacularly to life. Swimming in Sorrow and Reconstruction Rag drew much of its inspiration from parlor music, spirituals and early jazz (ie. Ragtime) that would have been most prevalent in the latter part of the 19th century into the 20th, while Danzón y Mambo, Choro y Samba displayed vivid Latin flair. All of these different styles were wonderfully displayed this evening. Bravo!