American composer Michael Daugherty was Composer-in-Residence
with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for four years. During that
time, he was commissioned to compose works symbolizing the city
of Detroit in its various aspects.
Daugherty’s American heritage is unmistakable in the opening
bars of
Fire and Blood, a violin concerto composed in
2003. The musical language has its basis in a complex tonality,
with a strong Bernstein-esque pulse and hints of folk music.
The first movement has an innate energy, with a range of orchestral
colours including some impressive metallic industrial sounds
reminiscent of some twentieth century Russian music. Based on
a mural by Diego Rivera which depicts Detroit’s legendary
car manufacturing industry, the work is in three movements. The
first movement is bold, brash and industrial - and enormously
successful. The second movement represents aspects of Rivera’s
wife, painter Frida Kahlo. This movement is much darker, with
traditional Mexican influences coming to the fore. There are
some wonderful moments of strength and hope amongst the sorrow,
and this extended movement always maintained my interest. The
dramatic final movement returns to the mood of the opening, with
syncopated accents and metallic sounds. Describing the Assembly
Line of the factory, this movement is brief and energetic, with
a sense of the worker surrounded by machinery. This is a refreshingly
honest work which has a sense of representing an aspect of modern
life, with a skillful use of the orchestra and its instrumental
colours. Ida Kavafin gives a dazzling violin performance, with
a wonderful sense of occasion and gritty portrayal of the raw
emotional aspects of the piece.
MotorCity Triptych, we are told, refers to an artwork,
as well as to a fold-out map produced by the American Automobile
Association as a travel guide to Detroit. The three movements
depict different aspects of the city; entitled
Motown Mondays,
Pedal-to-the-Metal and
Rosa Parks Boulevard - the
titles speak for themselves. I find it interesting that this
work draws attention to historical events and places them in
a modern context, providing a tribute to a city and those who
worked to make it what it is for a modern audience.
Motown
Mondays refers to just nine performances by Motown artists
in the summer of 1966; these were nine performances which were
enormously influential and Motown records, founded in Detroit,
is still a household name. Daugherty’s work fuses aspects
of the Motown style with his own language, providing an enjoyably
invigorating approach to the orchestra. With an opening reminiscent
of the
Fanfare for the Common Man, Pedal-to-the-Metal has
a bold, almost dark introduction, which breaks away into a fast
paced adventure through the city. The final movement,
Rosa
Parks Boulevard provides a solo for the trombone section,
based on African-American spirituals, including fragments of
Oh
Freedom, which was one of Rosa Parks’ favourites. Parks
moved to Detroit in 1957, just two years after the famous event
on an Alabama bus which sparked the civil rights movement. Daugherty
does an excellent job of blending the spiritual style with his
own contemporary language, and his music is dramatic, drawing
attention to an important event in modern American history.
The final work on this disc is a one-movement concerto for Timpani
and Orchestra,
Raise the Roof. Inspired by the architecture
of some of the world’s most impressive buildings, the virtuoso
timpani part demands melodic lines from the instrument, providing
a demonstration of the capabilities beyond providing rhythmic
pulse and colourful accents to an orchestral sound. This is a
piece with strongly syncopated rhythmic pulsations, and a sense
of dramatic flow. Brian Jones gives an excellent timpani performance.
Throughout the disc, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra give a fully
committed performance under Neeme Järvi which is worthy
of recognition. This is a fascinating collection of works which
are unapologetic, honest and above all, musically satisfying.
I look forward to hearing more from this composer.
Carla Rees
Other
reviews of Michael Daugherty in Naxos American Classics
Ida Kavafin (violin),
Ramón Parcells (trumpet), Kenneth Thompkins, Michael
Becker, Randall Hawes (trombones), Brian Jones (timpani), Detroit Symphony/Neeme
Järvi 
