New Jersey Symphony opened 2024 with their program The American Dream. A rarity for NJS, the Thursday afternoon concert had a variation on the program for the weekend concerts. Thursday afternoon’s performance featured Daniel Bernard Roumain’s “I am a white person who ______ Black people” that was originally composed during the pandemic, and exclusively for strings due to the restrictions in place at that time. Since them, artistic catalyst DBR has added both brass instruments as well as other winds. From the modal beginning of this evocative and emotional piece, I found myself alternately with tears in my eyes, sorrow then triumph and DBR describes the initial sense of a fist tightly closed, and then one that opens. Each person is encouraged to fill in the blank in the title as they choose based on their own experience. Far too short, DBR is expert at always leaving us wanting more. Thursday’s performance was conducted by Music Director Xian Zhang.
William Grant Still’s “Darker America” was next. Written while Still was in his twenties, this work has the modern muscularity of a WPA mural. Lush and beautiful with the louche bending of melody characteristic of the jazz influence on all music of the time, no surprise as Still had worked with W. C. Handy, there is turmoil woven in with the theme. Struggle and release, memories both good and challenging are reflected in the sweep of this dynamic work. Again, hungry for more, intermission ensued.
Weekend concerts were under the baton of Rob Kapilow, who also composed the work that opened the Saturday and Sunday concerts, “We Came To America”. This work is a world premiere that was commissioned by the Thurnauer School of Music at the Kaplan JCC on the Palisades. Both the JCC Young People’s Chorus, the Young People’s Chorus of New York City and Ember Choral Arts lifted their voices in song. Kapilow guides us on the often perilous journey from what was known out into the vast Somewhere. And that’s just where Act II picks up.
Continuing our homage to the foundational American Dream, Act II is all about the Maestro – Leonard Bernstein. Beginning with Three Dance Episodes from 1944’s On the Town, we were treated to the energetic, often frenetic “The Great Lover”, “Lonely Town (Pas de deux)” with muted brass, then the heartrending strings that guide us through love, loss, memory and wistful emotion. From there, where else to go but “Times Square: 1944” where we have our mini overture documenting a day in NYC – life is all possibility, no room for regret and fantasy makes the sky the limit.
Imagine West Side Story fully told in less than a half hour and you have the beautifully limned “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story”. Told as a through-line of emotion, the outbound energy of Prologue propels us into the tenderly sentimental touch of “Somewhere”. The Scherzo delivers limerence and the enchantment of meeting that paradigm shift Someone. The excitement of Mambo was shared by the rare opportunity for the Symphony to vocalize and everyone seemed to be having a blast. The dance floor rumble of Cha Cha communicated passion and menace all at once and then in the Meeting scene, flirtation and the taste of knowledge are clear. From “Cool” Fugue through Rumble through the Finale, it is a headlong rush, easy to remember both the film and perhaps experiences of our own that moved with their own energy. Music and passion always go hand in hand, and never more so than with New Jersey Symphony.
2024 has just begun and so has New Jersey Symphony. They play year round in venues all over New Jersey so visit now for your favorites. This is the Year of the Dragon, and the Lunar New Year celebration is must-see! Get your tickets for at https://www.njsymphony.org.