Kazuki Conducts Harmonium, CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham | 4 July 2026 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

Photo credit: Andrew Fox

Kazuki Conducts Harmonium

CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham | 4 July 2026

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

“A brilliantly well performed Independence Day concert all about the best of America.”

Copland – Fanfare for the Common Man

Copland – Lincoln Portrait

Joan Tower – Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman

Florence Price (orch. Lior Rosner) – The Heart of a Woman

John Adams - Harmonium

This was a July 4th concert, on the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America, which explored the idea of that country as a custodian of ideals. It was comprised of music which celebrated diversity and the aspiration for its citizens to be better. For all of this, it was a joyous and uplifting experience, if somewhat bitter-sweet, given the current reality of the USA.

It opened with two pieces by Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man and Lincoln Portrait; a perfect pairing. Both works are ceremonial in character, although not written with any ceremonial function in mind. And they share that open and expansive harmonic language, which is unmistakably, yet undefinably American.

The CBSO brass & percussion gave a clear and direct reading of the first piece. The rest of the orchestra joined them for the second work, delivering a performance that was, by turns, commanding, ebullient and reflective.

Soprano, Janai Brugger voiced extracts from Lincoln’s own speeches in the last section with calm conviction. She had a real feeling for their rhetorical cadence, intellectual power and historical significance. The effect was deeply moving and rather poignant.

A second paring of pieces in the first half gave us Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, followed by Florence Price’s song cycle, The Heart of a Woman. Tower’s work is  virtuosic and gave the brass and percussion a satisfying workout. But it is a little too fussy to carry the same immediate impact as the Copland Fanfare.

The Price cycle was given in a fabulously well-orchestrated version by Lior Rosner. This arrangement is full of flare and imagination, but at the same time very subtle. The poems Price chose for her cycle, all by black American writers, are generally quite short and economical, and use simple language to deliver what are, at times, difficult messages. Price’s musical language is similarly deceptive in its directness, hiding an unexpected edge beneath a surface of easy charm.

Conductor, Kazuki Yamada brought out all of the detail of Rosner’s orchestration, without ever overwhelming the soloist. For her part, Brugger sang with a sumptuous, rich tone and stunning technical mastery to deliver a reading that drew the audience in with its intimacy.

The concert concluded with John Adams’ Harmonium. The CBSO chorus took the musical and vocal demands of this monumental work in their stride. The orchestra was at the top of its game.

Adams’ music is at once easy to listen to, but less easy to understand. Kazuki went beyond its sparkling technical surface, to give us a fearless reading that went to the heart of its philosophical and emotional complexities. Time stood still. Breath seemed to stop. One was totally immersed. Quite stunning, and one looks forward to hearing it again at this year’s Proms.

Kazuki Yamada – Conductor

Janai Brugger – Narrator/Soprano

CBSO Chorus

Julian Wilkins – Chorus Master