“Friday morning’s Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concert at Cincinnati’s Music Hall brought the … posthumous world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 6,” led by Music Director Louis Langrée, writes Lawrence A. Johnson in Saturday’s (10/19) Chicago Classical Review. “The much-lauded American composer died last month…. It’s somewhat ironic that Rouse … predeceased the first performance of his Sixth Symphony since death has so often haunted his earlier works in the genre…. The composer may have refrained from citing any specific personal meaning in his program note; but from the very first notes—faltering violin phrases that echo the opening of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony—the sense of last things and leave-taking are consistently manifest… Speaking of this final work, the composer said, ‘My main hope is that it will communicate something sincere in meaning to those who hear it.’ Christopher Rouse’s Sixth Symphony does that with great feeling, sterling craft and economy and concentrated dramatic impact in a work that should quickly become a repertory standard. Rouse’s Sixth is not only arguably the finest of all his works in the genre but among the handful of truly great symphonies written by an American composer…. The Cincinnati Symphony’s playing was polished, powerful and unfailingly sensitive throughout.”
Posted October 22, 2019
In photo: Louis Langrée leads the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 6, the composer’s final work. Photo by Lee Snow
