Washington Classical Review

Davóne Tines and Ruckus performed Wednesday night, presented by Washington Performing Arts.

Sometimes, a classical program is so imaginatively constructed that it becomes a work of art in itself. 

“What is Your Hand in This?”, conceived by the thrilling bass singer Davóne Tines, along with bassist Douglas Adam August Balliett and multi-instrumentalist Clay Zeller-Townson of the crackerjack Baroque band Ruckus, proved just such a program.

On Wednesday night at Sixth and I, Washington Performing Arts presented this world premiere, with Tines and Ruckus supported by members of the Washington Performing Arts Gospel Choir. The program commemorates the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which, as you may have heard, takes place later this year.

In the program, Tines and Ruckus sing America through classical, spirituals, patriotic anthems, gospel, pop, and new compositions, in arrangements (mostly by Balliett) that often recontextualize—or actively undermine— the original settings.

Through their disparate idioms and sources, each piece helped build to the musicians’ stated goal: to “invite people to the idea that there’s nothing wrong with this country that can’t be transformed by what’s right in this country” (paraphrasing Bill Clinton’s first inaugural address). The result is a celebration, a remonstrance, a sarcastic commentary, a plea, and a joyous musical experience—all in a brisk 80 minutes, with each piece flowing into the next with minimal pauses.

Tines sang with amplification, yet, even with that, at times in Part I of the program, one strained to hear his voice over the crowd on stage. His fluid, rich bass shone in simpler arrangements, like the poised guitar accompaniment from Paul Holmes Morton in Stephen Foster’s “Beautiful Dreamer.” Balliett’s “The Four F’s,” part of the Compassion Preludes composed for this program, had Tines use that same voice to deliver wry humor. Part I ended with the WPA Gospel Choir assisting in performing Tines’ arrangement of “Be the Lover of My Soul,” a hymn Tines grew up singing (as “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”) in nearby Fauquier County, Virginia.

The only non-American composer on this program was George Frideric Handel; movements from his Concerto Grosso No. 10 bookended John Dickinson’s Revolutionary-era anthem “The Liberty Song” to make up the bulk of Part II of the program. Violinists Keir GoGwilt and Shelby Yamin and violist Manami Mizumoto played with rock-solid intonation and impeccable Baroque style, and a bounty of continuo underpinned them, including the aforementioned performers as well as Elliot Figg on keyboard.

“The Liberty Song” is less noteworthy as a piece of music than as a historical artifact, both for its popularity at the time of the Declaration and for the fact that such a full-throated cry for freedom came from the pen of a slaveowner. Tines broke down the irony over the music by Balliett, and then made the subtext explicit in the third verse of the song, singing lines like “How sweet are the labors that free men endure” and adding “except the slaves!” with increasing exasperation, both humorous and pointed.

Among other things, Part III of the program counter-programmed “The Liberty Song.” Two plaintive instrumental pieces by Sawney Freeman, who escaped slavery in 1790 to become a composer, bookended the song “To the White People of America” by Joshua McCarter Simpson, an impassioned cry for abolition written in 1848. Here, Tines eschewed polemical bombast for an almost contemplative take, even on the refrain “the day will come that you must die,” supported by a gorgeous, winsome accompaniment from violinist GoGwilt.

“The House I Live In,” made famous by Frank Sinatra and used as a civil rights anthem, closed Part III. Tines added two verses that ask questions about how great America is, which led to the slow breakdown of the song into an extended rumination, wandering and occasionally chaotic. It eventually ended with “Amazing Grace,” phrased as a question, first in the WPA Gospel Choir tenors and then throughout the ensemble — a magical transition, arranged by Tines and Balliett and pulled off with tremendous concentration by the performers.

One series of three songs in Part IV went to the heart of the matter. Tines said that he wrote “What is My Hand in This?” to sing at a high-society party in New York, with lyrics that call upon listeners to consider what they can do to right society’s wrongs. Performing the song at Wednesday’s concert, Tines called upon the audience to sing the gospel-inflected melody with him, so that everyone at Sixth and I asked themselves the same questions.

William Billings’ “Chester,” another Revolutionary anthem, got a straightforwardly robust reading from the participants, followed by what Tines described as “my anthem,” Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” Tines’ firm bass found all the pain and hope in the song, confirming it as a great American musical achievement, and Ruckus showed they accompany soul music as well as they do Baroque.

There will be many commemorations of America in this anniversary year, but few will match the creativity, commitment, and insight Tines and Ruckus brought to “What is Your Hand in This?”

Washington Performing Arts presents “A Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” with the WPA Gospel Choirs and the Choral Arts Society of Washington, Sunday, February 15 at Strathmore.  WashingtonPerformingArts.org