Monday, March 23, 2009

Composer Chris Becker Seeks Score Or Recording Of 'Levee Land' By William Grant Still



[Afro-American Symphony; William Grant Still; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Karl Kruger, conductor; Bridge 9086 (1999)]

This post first appeared on the blog of Chris Becker, a New York composer, producer and recording artist whose website is http://www.beckermusic.com:
Chris Becker
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, I was able to attend the American Symphony Orchestra's concert of William Grant Still's music. I'd been looking forward to this program for awhile. Performances of Still's music in the U.S. are rare. And the more I've researched Still's biography and music, it is clear that many of his works haven't been performed in the U.S. or at all. For instance, the ASO program mentions that Still wrote eight operas. That really took me by surprise - and I came to the ASO concert with some knowledge already of Still's music and his biography. You would think I would have already been aware of this fact, but nope. And something about the number just hit me. He wrote eight operas and how many of them have been performed here in New York?

“Who is William Grant Still? You can read about him at AfriClassical, Wikipedia, and here. I am particularly interested in hearing or seeing the score to an early work of Still's called Levee Land for soprano and orchestra which was premiered in New York in 1926 with Florence Mills. If anyone out there knows of a recording that's available for purchase, please give me a shout in the comments. I am not clear yet as to who owns the publishing of his music, and this may be an issue when it comes to buying his scores. But I've only just begun my research.” [Full Post]


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