Carlos Simon: Four Symphonic Works

Songs of praise and lamentation rang in Carlos Simon’s ears long before he understood their meaning. The American composer was raised to their sounds in the Pentecostal church founded by his father in Atlanta, Georgia. They supplied the foundation for his development as a musician at ease in a multitude of genres, and furnished the faith that sustains his quest for social justice and an end to racial inequity. His art rises from his determination to heal division and challenge hatred. Its language embraces jazz, blues, gospel and neo-Romantic classical styles to speak with the immediacy and impact of a great preacher. “It’s always good to spice things up and see how things can be different,” he tells Apple Music Classical. “That’s where I live, in the diversity of it all.” Simon’s compositions connect with the oppression that has blighted the lives of so many of his fellow African Americans and channel it in ways that, for all the pain of past and present, point to a better future. Carlos Simon: Four Symphonic Works offers a compelling portrait of his work as composer-in-residence at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) and its music director, Gianandrea Noseda. “The album reflects my recent musical growth,” he notes. “It’s also a reflection of the rapport I’ve developed with the NSO and Maestro Noseda, the trust we’ve built together. I really trust the orchestra—they’re family. And the same with Gianandrea, who’s such a phenomenal musician. He understands my music and knows how to get the players to perform it in a way that’s respectful and understanding.” Carlos Simon: Four Symphonic Works opens with The Block, a joyful orchestral showpiece that revels in bold instrumental colours and textures. Tales: A Folklore Symphony and Songs of Separation shine penetrating light on the African diaspora in the US, their suffering, strength and seminal contributions to the nation’s culture. Simon’s music communicates powerful messages through its expressive eloquence. “It’s about delivering a message that people can receive. If you listen to American popular music from the 1960s, let’s say Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Going On, it feels good, it sounds good. But if you really listen to the message, it’s medicine. You inject that message in a way that people will feel good about, but also listen to and hopefully change how they’re thinking, how they’re moving in the world. I understand sometimes people will not receive the message and just receive the music. But if I do my job correctly, I hope it will enter in a subconscious way as part of the DNA, part of the spirit of the work.” Wake Up!, the album’s most recent composition, is a finely crafted concerto for orchestra. Simon drew inspiration for the piece from “Awake, asleep” by Nepali-language poet Rajendra Bhandari, a call for the “slumbering public” to embrace wakefulness and recognise the despot’s soothing message of peace for what it is—a lie. “Wake Up! may not be virtuosic,” says Simon, “but there’s a moment for each family of instruments to shine. It serves two purposes: to wake up the hall during the performance and to wake them up in terms of societal matters. It’s important, I think, for us to be awake to what’s happening in the world and aware of our power to change things.”