It’s been a tough year for our city: Blago and his dead-beaver ’do, the Olympic bid, Captain Interception (a.k.a. Jay Cutler). Fortunately, in the classical world, things have been rosier. Composer George Flynn’s latest release is a reminder that Chicago still boasts more uplifting heroes than indicted officials.
Chair of musicianship and composition at DePaul School of Music for 25 years, Flynn celebrates the university’s wind ensemble, symphony orchestra and chamber choir in three works. The titular “American City” is both a tribute to the wind ensemble and a playful nod to the notion of the Windy City itself; an infusion of noir-style brass places it in the era of fedoras at the Biograph. The 72-year-old weaves elements of the cityscape with his own modern harmonic language of pithy chord clusters and intricate counterpoint. While Red Line–esque bass grumbles, piccolos and glockenspiel click-clack like heels on cement.
“The Density of Memory” envelops the impeccably toned clarinet solos of faculty members Wagner Campos, Larry Combs and Julie DeRoche within a tide of sonorous strings as a kind of contemporary concerto grosso. The brilliance of Flynn’s multidimensional voicing is raised to a stunning clarity under the baton of Cliff Colnot, whose rigorous preparation of this young orchestra produces the album’s tightest playing and calls into question the pejorative use of the phrase student ensemble. In the final part of the triptych, “St. Vincent’s Words,” the choir bellows over bursts of horns, its solemnity underlining the record’s hopeful and nostalgic beginning.
American City stands as a resounding testament to Flynn’s commitment to Chicago’s next generations of musicians—two pages are devoted to listing every ensemble performer—allowing thoughts of LAZ parking meters to fade, if just for a moment.
- Doyle Armbrust
published in Time Out Chicago on November 4th, 2009