[The American Composers Series - The Incredible Flutist; Six American Dances for Strings; Westphalian Symphony Orchestra Recklinghausen; Paul Freeman, Conductor; From the Black Belt, Darker America; Music for Westchester Symphony Orchestra; Siegfried Landau, Conductor;
Vox Box 5157 (1996)]
“'I prefer music that suggests a program to either pure or program music in the strict sense,' [William Grant Still] said. What he meant is immediately apparent in the pair of works recorded here. From the Black Belt (11:13) was composed in 1926, scored originally for small orchestra and later published for full orchestra. The sections of the suite are: Li'l Scamp (:08); Honeysuckle (3:45); Dance (:31); Mah Bones is Creakin (:13); Blue (2:32); Brown Girl (2:43); Clap Yo' Han's (1:08).” “Darker America, a symphonic poem for chamber orchestra, was written in 1924 and won a publication prize from the Eastman School of Music. It depicts the triumph of a people over their sorrows through prayer.”
Ulysses S. Kay, Shirley Fleming writes, “...prefers to work in what one might call a broad European tradition. He has followed the classic guidelines, composing chamber music, concertos, cantatas, symphonies, and two one-act operas, one of them a Koussevitsky Foundation commission (The Boor, based on Chekhov) and the other The Juggler of Our Lady,written in [1955] and presented at Xavier University in Louisiana in 1962 and by Opera/South in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1972. His Six Dances, composed in 1954, reveal his affinity for tradition infused with a robust and unmistakeable American spirit. The dances are designated: 1) Schottische; 2) Waltz; 3) Round Dance; 4) Polka; 5) Promenade; 6) Galop.”
VoxBox sells most of its recordings in 2-CD sets which typically cost less than a single full-price CD. Titles tend to remain in the catalogue indefinitely. The works of William Grant Still and Ulysses Kay are found in The American Composers Series on The Incredible Flutist, VoxBox CDX 5157 (1996). Walter Piston, Peggy Stuart Coolidge and Daniel Gregory Mason are also included. Although released in 1996, this recording remains widely available at websites based in Britain, Canada and the U.S. William Grant Still and Ulysses Simpson Kay are profiled at AfriClassical.com
William Grant Still
Ulysses Kay
VoxBox CDX 5157
African American Composer
From the Black Belt
Still's Darker America
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