InterchangingIdioms: 'American Symphony Orchestra Plays Works by Composer William Grant Still'

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

InterchangingIdioms.blogspot.com/ 

Friday, 27 February 2009

“March 22 Concert at Lincoln Center Conducted by Leon Botstein: 'RevisitingWilliam Grant Still' Presents Still’s Remarkable Darker America, Africa, and Symphony No. 2

Complemented by Edgard Varèse’s Offrandes and George Whitefield Chadwick’s Rip Van Winkle Overture

"The pioneering African-American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978) ranks among the greatest composers born and educated in the United States, rivaled only by Leonard Bernstein in the variety of his output. On March 22 the American Symphony Orchestra celebrates his under-appreciated genius with its Lincoln Center concert 'Revisiting William Grant Still'. Performing three of Still’s landmark compositions – Darker America, Africa, and Symphony No. 2 – along with works by two of his great influences, George Whitefield Chadwick (the concert overture Rip Van Winkle) and Edgard Varèse (Offrandes), the ASO acknowledges Still’s important position in musical and African-American history.

"Often referred to as the dean of African-American composers, Still was the first African-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony of his own performed by a leading orchestra and the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company. Yet despite these achievements, concertgoers today know little about him and rarely encounter his works. True to its mission, the ASO seeks to redress that injustice with this program, which also poses questions about how race has impacted Still’s musical legacy."   [William Grant Still is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is also found]

American Symphony Orchestra
William Grant Still
Darker America
Still's Africa
Still's Symphony No. 2
Song of a New Race