Last Updated on April 21, 2023, 8:51 PM | Published: April 21, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s too often said that time heals all wounds, but even 28 years later, the most egregious and painful scars in our state’s modern history still feel fresh and exposed.
The April 19th, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City stands as the most destructive, most deadly, and most indelibly etched domestic terror attack in American history, and tributes of all kinds have long been common.
But art – and perhaps music in particular – has a unique way of cutting to the deepest emotional core and examining not only the never-ending hurt, but also the ineffable, inexpressible distance and perspective of time.
It’s in that vein, and in reverence of the 168 lives lost that day, that the OKC Philharmonic, led by Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate, releases a new album of musical tributes, both to the memory of the victims and to the unceasing passage of time.
Featuring three stunning, long-form works by composer Jonathon Leshnoff, the collection is capped by the newly commissioned “Of Thee I Sing,” created as a direct remembrance and requiem for that devastating day.
Anniversary commission
When Mickelthwate took over as Music Director and leader of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in 2018, the impending 25th anniversary of the Bombing struck a chord with him, and he knew that the timing would be right to commission a new musical work honoring the tragedy.
“It was really in my first month of being the Music Director,” Mickelthwate told me over the phone from Vietnam, where he is currently guest-conducting the Hanoi Philharmonic. “It was my first real creative idea, I guess, to commission something for that anniversary coming up at the time.”
After originally planning for a different composer, Mickelthwate says that he found himself continuing to listen to other “possible voices,” eventually discovering Jewish composer Jonathon Leshnoff through his “Symphony No. 4,” written for Violins of Hope, a project restoring and performing with Jewish-owned violins that survived the Holocaust.
“The slow movement of the piece was so deep and heartbreaking to me, but so beautiful,” Mickelthwate said. “I just thought, ‘oh my god, I have to cancel the other guy and get Jonathon Leshnoff.'”
The result of that late pivot is Leshnoff’s “Of Thee I Sing,” a 22-minute requiem for orchestra and choir in dedication to the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing, both lost and living.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately made a 25th anniversary premiere for the piece impossible in 2020, the premiere recording by the OKC Philharmonic and Canterbury Voices under the conduction of Mickelthwate appears on a new album of interpretations of Leshnoff’s recent works.
‘Unifying beauty’
When originally discussing the sound and direction of the piece, Mickelthwate knew that it had to be more than just a somber dirge.
“Of course it had to be rooted in the horror, but it should also be transcending,” he said. “I talked to [OKC National Memorial Executive Director] Kari Watkins about it, and she also said, you know, the city has changed. This was the start of a big change in Oklahoma. So I wanted a kind of journey where it transcends, where it kind of moves from the one to this kind of unifying beauty. And that’s what Jonathon did.”
“Of Thee I Sing” begins abruptly, and begins charging forward with urgency, harrowingly, with lines almost crashing into one another before the fifth minute finally brings an eerie calm. The building resumes, eventually culminating in a disquieting clash of bells and stabbing strings.
When everything falls once again, it’s the Canterbury Voices choir that picks up and carries the piece delicately to a triumphant climax and a soft, sobering final resolution.
A big part of the piece’s unifying thread is the overt interpolation of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” throughout, first in thematic instrumental references and then literally and lyrically with the choir.
“Jonathon had this thought of using that song at the end,” Mickelthwate explained, “and there are several lines that kind of go about that, that talk about a fall and how one continues, and it is very inspiring.”
Reverent collection
The Philharmonic’s new album is rounded out with their interpretations of two other Leshnoff works, including his “Violin Concerto No. 2,” featuring the staggering talents of Berlin concertmaster violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, and “Elegy,” composed last year for Yom HaShoah, Israel’s national Holocaust Remembrance Day.
This year, Yom HaShoah was observed on April 18th, making the album’s timing even more appropriate, and drawing a clear, chilling parallel to the horrors of white supremacy across oceans and across decades.
The music of Leshnoff, Mickelthwate, the OKC Philharmonic, and Canterbury Voices on this album stands in direct opposition to those horrors, providing a score built on beauty, resilience, and the unyielding spirit that we hope to bring to the survivors of tragedies such as these.
“Leshnoff: Elegy, Violin Concerto No. 2, & Of Thee I Sing” by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Canterbury Voices featuring Noah Bendix-Balgley and conductor Alexander Mickelthwate is available now from Naxos Records on CD and all streaming services.
For more information on the OKC Philharmonic, including a complete 2023-24 season schedule of events and performances, visit okcphil.org.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
