Myrtle Hart Society: Record Review – William Chapman Nyaho – Senku

[Senku: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent; William Chapman Nyaho, piano; Musicians Showcase 1091]

From the May eNewsletter of the Myrtle Hart Society, MyrtleHart.org:
Nyaho's CD is Overpowering! For some of us, the name of William Chapman Nyaho came to attention only recently, but this has been a major and most happy discovery. He had begun his musical studies in his native Ghana, to be followed with degree work at Oxford University and the Conservatore de Musique in Geneva, the Eastman School of Music, and finally with his doctoral study at the University of Texas-Austin.

The first of what must be a series of CDs was issued on Musicians Showcase MS 1091 not long ago. Three well-known works appear in fresh interpretations: Margaret Bond's Troubled water, the tenth of Coleridge-Taylor's 24 Negro melodies, Deep river, and Dett's beloved In the bottoms. We need not feel guilty of infidelity to Natalie Hinderas, who returned the Dett suite into the repertoire (and her Juba has more laughing-barrel tongue-in-cheek), but Nyaho gives the music new life.

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, whose stock shot up, and rightfully so, before his death, is represented by a dynamic Scherzo. Nothing is more delightful than the Three Jamaican dances of Oswald Russell, now a resident in Switzerland. Three composers are introduced: Gyimah Labi, from Ghana, is represented by a movement from his Six dialects in African pianism - that movement espoused by Akin Euba, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, and so many contemporary African composers seeking a totally new approach to texture and rhythm in piano composition. This is further illustrated by Joshua Uzoigwe, an enormously gifted Nigerian, whose Talking drums is offered here. It will be a tremendous boost to recorded literature for history classes and individual students in piano and composition. This CD is as exciting and informative as any I have heard in recent times. Dominique-René de Lerma, Lawrence University

William H. Chapman Nyaho
Senku: Piano Music
Composers of African Descent
Dominique-René de Lerma
Ghanaian-American Pianist
Musicians Showcase 1091