Review: BBC PROMS: CHINEKE! PLAYS SHOSTAKOVICH AT THE PROMS, Royal Albert Hall

The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich’s death continues at this year’s Proms, as Chineke! took on his epic Symphony No. 10 in E minor, headlining this concert with this composition brought to life in the wake of Stalinist oppression. Also on the programme were two premières: Valerie Coleman’s Fanfare for Uncommon Times and James Lee III’s Visions of Cahokia. As with their 2023 Proms appearance, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor rounded off the selection - this time with The Bamboula.

Coleridge-Taylor became keen on celebrating Black culture (as well as his own Sierra Leonean heritage), and one of the results of this was 1910’s The Bamboula. The title references a drum used in ‘voudou’, the Haitian spiritual practice, which made its way to the Caribbean from West Africa during the time of the transatlantic slave trade. This is its first appearance at the Proms for 91 years, despite being something of a regular during the early 20th century.

The subtitle “Rhapsodic Dance” is suggestive of certain sequences in the piece, particularly the suggestion of movement conveyed by the strings. It felt at once dramatic and celebratory, making it the perfect opening salvo for the evening.

It was the UK première of Fanfare for Uncommon Times, a piece inspired by the (at the time) ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the events that unfolded following the murder of George Floyd. The orchestra may have been pared back to eleven brass players and four percussionists, but they combined to bring a rich and textured sound - it was more the eerieness of Jonathon Heyward conducting them across an empty string and woodwind section that helped to bring the ‘uncommonness’ home.

Just before the interval, we were treated to the European première of Visions of Cahokia - not originally in the programme, it replaced George Walker’s Pageant and Proclamation for undisclosed reasons. Whatever the motive, James Lee III’s three-movement tribute to the Mississippian settlement of Cahokia provoked a rapturous response, with the composer himself even joining the orchestra onstage to take some of the plaudits.

The intention of the piece was to put into music the journeys some of the indigenous American tribes would have faced, as well as pay homage to their religious rituals and celebratory feasts; it had a very cinematic feel to it, as “Cahokia’s Dawn”, “Na Yimmi” and “Chukoshkomo” swept through the Royal Albert Hall. For me it also was evocative of nature and the environment, helped by the use of some more niche percussion instruments at various stages.

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E minor was welcomed to the world during the same year that Stalin departed it. Although it may not actually be the composer’s musical revenge on the Soviet leader, it certainly brings to mind the suffering that Stalin inflicted upon the nation - and Shostakovich in particular. Blacklisted in the ‘cultural purges’ of 1948, he was forced out of his teaching posts and spent five years unable to compose freely; he even had to represent the Soviet Union at ‘Peace’ congresses, repeating the Party line against his will.

The four movements (“Moderato”, “Allegro”, “Allegretto”, “Andante - Allegro”) go through phases of melancholy and suffering, pure rage, unrequited love, and an attempt to break through the darkness to the light. After the lengthy first movement, the second’s venomous feel (potentially a “musical portrait of Stalin”) hit incredibly hard - it almost felt like a palate cleanser ahead of the lovelorn third, and the forced finish of the fourth. Chineke! demonstrated incredible volume control in this piece, bringing both precision and passion to the plate.

Although Jonathon Heyward stepped in at the last minute (Simon Rattle had to miss his Proms appearances due to routine surgery), his animated presence was more than a match for this phenomenal orchestra, and he helped to increase the spectacle of the event.

It is always a pleasure to experience Chineke!; not only because of the supreme talent that comprises the orchestra, but because of the interesting and well-considered programmes they put together. This was a triumphant evening which brilliantly showed how music can both reflect and resist repression - how much is this needed in these uncertain times.

The BBC Proms run at the Royal Albert Hall until 13 September