Monday, May 27, 2013

Longfellow Chorus: 'Coleridge-Taylor Returns to Norfolk June 19'

[Dr. Lester Green leads a performance of
the original "Keep me from sinkin' down
in the film

Longfellow Chorus
Normally this time of year I'm beginning to
plan for next year's Longfellow Choral
Festival. However, all future performances
have been put on hold in order to recoup
funds after seven years of ambitious and 
highly original programming.

But that does not mean nothing's 
happening. I'm very busy finishing —
the editing process will probably never
be quite complete — and promoting
the film "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and 
His Music in America, 1900–1912." This 
is an example of the mission of The
 Longfellow Chorus being fulfilled at its
very best and in a long-lasting and evident
way.

I'll show "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and
His Music in America" in the Battell Recital
Hall of the Norfolk Chamber Music 
Festival, Norfolk, Connecticut, at
7:30 PM, Wednesday, June 19, as part
of the free-admission Music in Context
series. This occurs a little over one year
after we recreated an aspect of the 
premiere of Coleridge-Taylor's Violin 
Concerto in G in the Music Shed on the 
 centennial of the first performance 
by Maud Powell—Lydia Forbes's 
presentation of Maud's SC-T encore,
"Keep me from sinkin' down," for
 violin and orchestra.

I've created a Norfolk Promo for this
event—a 10-minute condensed
version of the Norfolk scenes in the
two-hour film. What's new in
this promo is that I've added to
the soundtrack bits of our
performance of the Concerto from
March 16 with violinist Tai Murray,
and a luxurious clarinet and oboe
moment from our performance
of SC-T's "Bamboula
 Rhapsodic Dance." (Bamboula
was performed originally in Norfolk
in 1910, the composer conducting.)
The result is an audible
delicate Art Nouveau flavor to the
Norfolk scenes in the film.

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