Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout” is highlighted in the New York Times’ “Best Classical Music of 2021”

Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout” opened Carnegie Hall’s Season Opening Night Gala with The Philadelphia Orchestra (Photo credit: Chris Lee)

Best Classical Music of 2021
By Anthony Tommasini, Zachary Woolfe, Joshua Barone, Seth Colter Walls and David Allen
December 6, 2021
The New York Times

During the year and a half when the pandemic forced performing arts institutions to close, and countless freelance artists lost their livelihoods, the fragility of classical music was exposed as never before. But the art form returned to an extent that seemed impossible during the bleak early months of 2021. Some institutions made strong statements by grappling with roiling societal issues. Others simply celebrated by joyously resuming business as usual.

The Philadelphia Orchestra Opens Carnegie Hall

On paper, the concert with which Carnegie Hall returned to live performances after being closed for 572 days looked simply crowd-pleasing, as befits a fund-raising gala. Nézet-Séguin — leading the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he also directs — included Bernstein’s festive “Candide” overture and Beethoven’s omnipresent Fifth Symphony.

Yet the program opened with Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout,” written during the pandemic as a tribute to frontline workers, followed by the pianist Yuja Wang in a crackling account of Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto. Beethoven’s Fifth was preceded by Iman Habibi’s dark, restless “Jeder Baum spricht,” written in dialogue with the symphony. And there was nothing standard about the volatile performance of the Fifth that Nézet-Séguin drew from the orchestra.

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