Carlos Simon: Four Symphonic Works [CD]

The conclusion of a digital series by Gianandrea Noseda and the National Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Simon: Four Symphonic Works brings together a collection of pieces by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence, Carlos Simon. Tales-A Folklore Symphony delves into African American culture and folklore. The work touches upon a wide breadth of ideas-from Negro Spirituals sung by enslaved prisoners to comics by the Afrofuturist creative duo, Black Kirby. Simon's short orchestral study, The Block, takes inspiration from the visual art of the late Romare Bearden, an artist whose work reflected African American life in urban cities as well as the rural American south. Songs of Separation for mezzo-soprano and orchestra was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra in connection with Simon's current residency as Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence. The work takes it's inspiration from a set of four poems by the 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic Jalal al-Din Mu?ammad Rumi. Completing the album is the composer's Wake Up! Concerto for Orchestra, which asks it's audience to consider their own awareness in an increasingly chaotic society.