I don't get to the symphony nearly enough. Pre-pandemic, I expected to. The Colorado Springs Philharmonic is a jewel of this town, a big-city symphony that plays the top classical pieces but isn't afraid to throw in some lesser-known gems.
At the moment, the Philharmonic is between conductors, so guest conductors have driven the current season. Longtime musical director and conductor dozen years, Josep Caballé-Domenech left in 2023. But not having a full-time director isn't the worst thing. A symphony can build a quality program with a series of guest conductors, and that seems to work for the moment.
The evening opened with Claude Debussy's Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun. Debussy is a welcome part of any classical evening. The momentum shifted to Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3. While different in tone, it fit. I'm grateful that the COS Philharmonic can bring such pieces to life.
The biggest revelation was yet to come. I wasn't familiar with William Grant Still's Symphony No. 2, Song for a New Race. Or with William Grant Still, a Black composer active from the 1930s to 1950s. He was a trailblazer, among the first Black composers to score films and the first to conduct a performance in the Deep South.
Nearly a century later, it has aged well and deserves a spot among contemporaries like Gershwin and Grofe. If my notes are scant, I found myself drawn into the piece and didn't want to break from the feeling it conjured.
The piece is powerful and moving. When it includes, Symphony No. 2 requires a few minutes to process the intensity of the final few minutes. The symphony will stick with you as easily as the seminal Debussy piece that it followed. Hopefully Still's Second Symphony will find further renown as its second century approaches.
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