Either/Or performing Talib Rasul Hakim’s “Currents”, Nov. 2021

Program

Tālib Rāsúl Hākím

Tālib Rāsúl Hākím, composer

Scope-Seven (1965)
piano solo
Four (1965)
clarinet, trumpet, trombone, piano
Psalm of Akhnaten; ca. 1365-1348 B.C. (1978)
mezzo soprano, flutes, piano
Currents (1967)
string quartet
Music for Nine Players and Soprano Voice (1977)
soprano, alto flute, English horn, bass clarinet, horn, trombone, piano,
cello, double bass, percussion

Either/Or (EO) and International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) co-present and collaborate on a program of works by legendary Society of Black Composers co-founder Tālib Rāsúl Hākím. Following the performance, a panel discussion featuring three MacArthur composers— Courtney Bryan, Tyshawn Sorey, and ICE AD George Lewis — and EO’s Richard Carrick and Chris McIntyre will discuss the history and ongoing impact of Hakim’s work.

Before his untimely passing, Tālib Rāsúl Hākím (1940-88) was already becoming a widely influential composer, one who suffused his music for chamber and orchestral forces with intense deliberation, considered improvisations, dynamic rhythmic profiles, and purposeful silences. Hakim saw his compositions as more than just music: he saw music performance as the equivalent to an almost religious awakening. In the 1978 book The Black Composer Speaks, Hakim maintained, “It is hoped that whenever [my] music is performed, both performer and listener will experience some degree of inner stirring, that they will experience some philosophical, religious, political, emotional, intellectual experience.”

In this program, ICE and Either/Or present five diverse aspects of Hakim’s artistry that consider music as an encounter with the divine. The program includes performances of Psalm of Akhnaten; ca. 1365-1348 B.C. (1978), an imposing trio work that features a searching articulation of faith, mysticism, and spirituality; Currents (1967), his masterful entry to the string quartet canon; Scope-Seven (1965), an enigmatic solo piano work recently discovered within the vast holdings of the Library for the Performing Arts; Four (1965) for quartet; and Music for Nine Players and Soprano Voice (1977), which features the combined forces of ICE and Either/Or performers.

Personnel

International Contemporary Ensemble
Fay Victor, voice
Jasmine Wilson, voice
Andrés Ayola, english horn
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Nicolee Kuester, horn
Kebra-Seyoun Charles, bass
Cory Smythe, piano 
Clara Warnaar, percussion

Either/Or
Richard Carrick, conductor
Jennifer Choi, violin
Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet
Pala Garcia, violin
Madison Greenstone, clarinet
Chris McIntyre, trombone
John Popham, cello
Kal Sugatski, viola

Panel
Courtney Bryan, composer; Tyshawn Sorey, composer; Richard Carrick, Director, Either/Or ; Chris McIntyre, Curator, Either/Or; George Lewis, Artistic Director, ICE; George Lewis, Artistic Director, ICE; Harald Kisiedu, Co-Editor, Composing While Black (via Zoom)

Image of Mr. Hakim from the William A. Brown Collection, courtesy of the Archives & Special Collections at Columbia College Chicago

Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information at macfound.org.

Made possible in part through lead support from Arlene and Larry Dunn Fund for Afrodiasporic Music and the Cheswatyr Foundation.