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‘Elegy,’ performed by the San Diego Symphony, delivers message of hope

The wonder and the why of music exists in its impulse to make us examine our hearts and our minds. This is the experience of hearing contemporary composer Carlos Simon’s “Elegy: A Cry From the Grave,” the opening piece in the San Diego Symphony’s streaming “Elegy and Serenades” concert, with the orchestra conducted by Music Director Rafael Payare.

“Elegy: A Cry From the Grave” was composed a year after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Simon tells us in a prelude to the concert, which premiered on

Feb. 26, that his work is also in memory of other people of color tragically lost, including Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Breonna Taylor. This composition for strings is, as Simon describes it, “contemplative,” and while he acknowledges its sorrowful tone, he adds that this elegy carries along its quiet journey notes of hope for a better world.

Even without Simon’s remarks, you feel during the symphony musicians’ performance of “A Cry From the Grave” the pain and the longing, and your personal reflections will come. Believe me.

The remainder of this digital 75-minute concert is the performance of two serenades: Mozart’s “Serenade No. 12 for Winds in C Minor, K. 388” and Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48.” Each is preceded by brief contextual narratives that help us appreciate what are already engaging mini-symphonies.

Mozart’s 1782 piece for winds in four movements is often playful in that singular Mozart way, and busy camerawork inside Copley Symphony Hall flits from player to player, giving us up-close views we wouldn’t have in person. The Tchaikovsky serenade, which we learn was commissioned by a patron of the Russian composer, is lush and full of drama. sandiegosymphony.org