Apollo Chamber to debut ‘Rhapsody’ of slavery, freedom
rehearsals on Zoom has changed the relationship between Houston’s Apollo Chamber Players and the composers they commission.
Before COVID, “we normally wouldn’t record something and send it beforehand,” explains violinist and artistic director Matthew Detrick. “We would wait until they traveled to Houston three (or) four days before the concert and play things for them then.
“Looking back, when we do that, there’s not a lot of big things you can do to change (a piece) in a small amount of time before a concert,” he adds.
But Zoom paid off big-time when Apollo sent an early take of “Deep River Rhapsody” to its author, Adolphus Hailstork. The esteemed African American composer, whose works have been performed by the Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, had a few notes.
Their first attempt had been fine, he told them, but lacked a certain context. “He really was very explicit with what he wanted us to convey through his musical language and what he was writing,” says Detrick.
According to Hailstork’s program notes, “This piece represents a slave’s visions of escape, over the river (usually the Ohio). This idea carries with it a sense of energy, of freedom, even joy and the humor they imagine upon deliverance.
“A sudden interruption by the whip brings them back down to the cruelty and sadness of the situation,” he continues. “Eventually, sadly, they recover, and, quietly embrace again the distant vision they hope to realize someday.”
Apollo took Hailstork’s suggestions to heart. The composer was impressed.
“They nailed it,” says Hailstork, 80, from his home in Virgina Beach, Va. “They just plain nailed the mood and the meaning of the piece, (which) took on a life that it didn’t have the first rehearsal.”
“Deep River,” sung by Denyce Graves at Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s funeral, is one of the first spirituals Hailstork can remember learning, he explains. Prompted by Apollo to write something reflecting his heritage, he quickly landed on a longtime favorite.
“I love to write string music, and I especially like to use African American spirituals in my string writing, and that’s what I thought I would do,” says Hailstork. “It was a no-brainer.”
A professor emeritus of music at Old Dominion University, Hailstork recently completed “Knee on the Neck,” a choral requiem inspired by the death of Houston native George Floyd. Although writing for choirs is “one of my passions,” he says, composing for string quartet checks many of the same boxes.
“The string quartet is like a super-choir that has a huge range and can do a lot more things than voices can do, but at the same time be as intimate and warm as voices are,” says Hailstork. “The string quartet as a whole is a great instrument, and it’s made of four great instrumentalists. You can’t beat that.”
“Deep River Rhapsody” will debut this Saturday as part of “Piazzolla Centennial,” Apollo’s celebration of Argentinian tango innovator Astor Piazzolla’s 100th birthday. The quartet also commissioned a piece from Grammywinning bandoneon player Hector del Curto, who studied under Piazzolla. The concert’s common thread is Nadia Boulanger, the Parisian pedagogue who taught numerous musical giants including Aaron Copland, Phillip Glass, and Quincy Jones.
Inspired by Boulanger, Apollo will donate part of the box-office from Saturday’s performance to Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Boulanger, Detrick notes, helped nudge Piazzolla away from modernism and towards his ArgentiPutting nian roots. “I think that if it wasn’t for her, the composers and music of the 20th century — even to this day — would be just so much less impressive and interesting,” he says.
Hailstork, meanwhile, studied with Boulanger shortly after graduating from Howard University.
Both Hailstork and del Curto fit squarely with Apollo’s mission to cross-pollinate classical music with other forms, particularly folk music. It reminds Detrick of the natural phenomenon knows as “ecotone,” the transition zone where adjacent ecosystems blend into each other.
“That’s why we get such wonderful sunsets too — it’s because all these colors are coming through,” he says. “That may seem a little wonky, but I think it really explains why I love what Apollo does in fusing different genres. It just brings out the most interesting parts.”
That approach also landed Apollo a new fan. “They’re very responsive, very sensitive, and energetic,” says Hailstork. “They’re good. I admire them.”