Charleston City Paper: A 'touching performance' of Still's 'Suite for Violin and Piano'

[Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still; Denver Oldham, piano; Koch 3 7084 2H1 (1991)]

Charleston City Paper

by Lindsay Koob

“Enter our other co-hostess: violinist Lee-Chin Siow – along with the College’s Artist-in-Residence, pianist Enrique Graf – for an inspired and touching performance of pioneering American black composer William Grant Still’s Suite for Violin and Piano. 

“Still’s great gift was his ability to effectively express the African-American musical idiom in classical form. And I was amazed at how beautifully a violinist from Singapore and a pianist from Uruguay captured his inimitably American spirit. The bluesy, but busy opening passage was vaguely dance-like – and the laid-back slow movement reflected its alleged inspiration (a mother singing to her child) with devastating tenderness. The high-spirited, jazzy final movement left me with a big smile on my face.” [William Grant Still is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is also found]