Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra: Michael Abels & Augusta Read Thomas: Children's Stories
Cedille Records

Led and conducted by its Music Director Stilian Kirov, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra makes an auspicious recording debut with Children's Stories, its performance enhanced by the contributions of narrator Michael Sumuel and the youth choirs Anima – Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus and ChiArts Chamber Choir. Whereas the bass-baritone graces Michael Abels' Frederick's Fables, the choirs partner with the IPO for a performance of Augusta Read Thomas's Gwendolyn Brooks Settings, each work drawing for inspiration from classic children's literature and each a world premiere recording.

Frederick's Fables exudes charm in its recounting of four stories by Caldecott Award-winning Leo Lionni, with each starring mice as central characters and, like many a children's story, armed with a moral lesson. Amplifying the emotional resonance of the work, the narration and music work hand-in-hand throughout its four movements, and with Sumuel's avuncular presence residing over the proceedings the performance proves engrossing (the part was originally written for actor James Earl Jones, who performed in the February 1994world premiere). Ably complementing his narration is the score by Abels, who collaborated with Rhiannon Giddens on the Pulitzer-winning opera Omar and wrote the scores for Jordan Peele's films Get Out, Us, and Nope.

Set to texts from Brooks's classic picture book and children's poetry collection Bronzeville Boys and Girls, Read Thomas's six-part piece, on the other hand, finds its visual counterpart in the cover image of children playing. The book was published in 1956, six years after Brooks became the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize, and draws from her time growing up on the South Side of Chicago. Read Thomas's adaptation received its world premiere in March 2024 and was performed by the musicians on this recording. In both works, the texts bolster the listener's capacity for generating visual imagery that aligns to the material.

Sumuel, who's given acclaimed performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and at many other storied venues, doesn't sing, obviously, on the release, yet his narration is musical in its own way and a major reason why the forty-minute Frederick's Fables makes the impact it does. He and the orchestra bring these stories about the mouse family vividly to life, be it the opening one about Frederick, with its wry reminder about the importance of the arts to our lives, or the rousing one about the Greentail mouse, who excites the country mice with details about the big city's Mardi Gras celebrations. The price paid for boasting and lying is highlighted by “Theodore and the Talking Mushroom,” while “Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse” explores the ramifications of a friendship that develops between a mouse and a mechanical toy. Encompassing a rich emotional spectrum and exuding pastoral, country, dance, folk, and even neo-classical flavours, Abels' attentive writing and colourful arrangements beautifully reinforce the messages of the tales the narrator tells.

December 2024