{"id":5905,"date":"2019-12-13T22:26:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T22:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=5905"},"modified":"2020-01-17T22:29:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T22:29:06","slug":"acclaim-for-mason-bates-resurrexit-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/acclaim-for-mason-bates-resurrexit-in-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Acclaim for Mason Bates’ “Resurrexit” in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Conductor Honeck opened the program with the first CSO performance of \u201cResurrexit\u201d by Mason Bates, whose tenure as the orchestra\u2019s composer-in-residence ended in 2015. The work addresses the resurrection story via lush, shimmering color and intricately woven thematic layers. You didn\u2019t have to follow the program notes to track its progress, the mystical opening pages giving way to prayerful contemplation and, finally, the dramatic stirrings of rebirth. All this unfolded in about 10 minutes, giving the work a vivid arc, expressed via virtuosic orchestral writing and performance.”
\nChicago Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n

“Bates\u2019 Resurrexit, which led off the evening, presented one of the composer\u2019s most compelling musical efforts in years.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to Honeck and premiered by him with the Pittsburgh Symphony last year, Resurrexit effectively melds Bates\u2019s populist style with the deeper spiritual inspiration of Christ\u2019s resurrection. Following an opening quick upward flourish by the large orchestral forces, the music segues into a dark and searching section for woodwinds evoking a distinctly Middle Eastern atmosphere. A lamenting bass trombone solo\u2014rendered by Charlie Vernon with rich tone and suffused feeling\u2014reflects upon Christ\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

An Easter chant presents a more animated and optimistic section with the tempo accelerating amid copious, increasingly brilliant effects by the huge percussion battery. (Bates\u2019 taste in exotic instrumentation is reflected in his use of the suspended \u201csemantron\u201d\u2014which looked to be a large suspended wooden board, but what do I know?). As the music grows in confidence and affirmation, the Easter hymn takes flight in soaring resplendence over the whirling strings and percussion leading to a triumphant coda.<\/p>\n

Honeck showed himself just as commanding in this Mason Bates work as in his previous local outings of Mozart, Beethoven and Mahler. The final section of Resurrexit was thrilling as much for Honeck\u2019s balancing as for the energy and commitment of the playing\u2014all of the orchestra sections and the kaleidoscopic array of percussion colors and timbres emerged with astounding clarity.”
\nChicago Classical Review<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Conductor Honeck opened the program with the first CSO performance of \u201cResurrexit\u201d by Mason Bates, whose tenure as the orchestra\u2019s composer-in-residence ended in 2015. The work addresses the resurrection story via lush, shimmering color and intricately woven thematic layers. You didn\u2019t have to follow the program notes to track its progress, the mystical opening pages … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4256,4317,3686,3612,3805],"class_list":["post-5905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-composer","tag-mason-bates","tag-orchestra","tag-review","tag-symphony"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5906,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5905\/revisions\/5906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}