A program fit for King memorial

‘Martin’ skillfully links historical footnotes with musical themes

Chicago Sun-Times
By Marta Tonegutti
Published January 17, 2007
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Classical Review

Led by indefatigable maestro Paul Freeman, the Chicago Sinfonietta offered its annual tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a special program Monday at Symphony Center that combined past and present, memory and hope. The highlight was the world premiere of the musical narrative “Martin, Coretta and Rosa: A Portrait in Words and Music,” with text by African-American history scholar Lerone Bennett Jr. The Sinfonietta commissioned the work to commemorate the lives of civil-rights pioneers King; his wife, Coretta Scott King, and Rosa Parks.
The program, which also was performed Sunday at Dominican University in River Forest, also featured works in different genres and for different media, including Lyric for Strings by Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (with a virtuoso solo performance by high school piano prodigy Jeremy Ajani Jordan).

With Bennett doubling as narrator and Chicago soprano Jonita Lattimore as vocal soloist, “Martin, Coretta, and Rosa” skillfully combined historical narration with quotations from speeches and other texts, and wove together spirituals with musical themes from William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony and Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. The narrator was often enveloped by the rich orchestral sonority, while the singer either soared above it or stood alone, drained of all surrounding sound to delve into the depths of sorrow and hope embodied in the music. Lattimore’s vibrant and velvety voice was perfect for the part, as was her confident and restrained interpretation. Bennett’s dramatic reading was eloquent and impassioned, evoking an immediate emotional response from the attentive audience.

The evening opened with Walker’s Lyric for Strings (1946), a slow and meditative piece built around subtle textural changes and colored by pervasive chromaticism. The Sinfonietta’s assured performance continued with the Prokofiev concerto featuring Chicago pianist Jordan, the 17-year-old winner of the Steinway Piano Concerto Competition and many other awards. In full command of the concerto’s many technical demands, from percussive chords to prestissimo passagework, the young pianist displayed a compelling maturity of technique and interpretation in this extremely challenging three-movement piece.

After the intermission, choristers from the Apostolic Church of God’s Sanctuary Chorus, the choirs of the College of Lake County and the Gospel Music Workshop of America at Dominican University performed an impressive a cappella piece. Then Freeman, the Sinfonietta’s beloved musical director, returned to the podium for three more choral works: a traditional spiritual, a modern gospel work by Richard Smallwood and an arrangement of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” all performed to the combined sounds of orchestra and jazz band.

The program ended with “We Shall Overcome,” led again by maestro Freeman, who invited audience members to stand and hold hands while they joyously sang along with orchestra and chorus.