[Symphony No. 2 (Song of a New Race), William Grant Still; Negro Folk Symphony, William Levi Dawson; Harlem, Duke Ellington; Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Järvi, Conductor; Chandos 9226 (1993)]
NYTimes.com
The Week Ahead: Mar. 22-28
Classical Music
Classical Music
Allan Kozinn
Concertgoers have different opinions about LEON BOTSTEIN'S conducting technique. But one thing he does well is assemble programs of works from beyond the mainstream, often leaving listeners with the sense of having discovered something. He will lead his AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA in a program on Sunday in a program whose core is music by William Grant Still. His blues-inspired “Afro-American Symphony” was the first symphony by a black composer to be performed by a major American orchestra (the Rochester Philharmonic, in 1931). Still (1895-1978) was a prolific composer whose catalog includes four more symphonies, eight operas and many tone poems, suites, chamber works and vocal pieces. His works turn up too rarely, and when one of his symphonies is played, it’s generally the “Afro-American.” Mr. Botstein has passed that one by in favor of Symphony No. 2 (“Song of a New Race”), as well as two of Still’s orchestral suites, “Darker America” (1924) and “Africa” (1928).
The program also includes works by some of Still’s older contemporaries: George Whitefield Chadwick, represented by his “Rip Van Winkle” Overture (1879), and the modernist Edgard Varèse, whose “Offrandes” (1922) will be heard. Lecture by Mr. Botstein at 1:45 p.m., concert at 3, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, http://www.lincolncenter.org; $28 to $57. [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is also found]
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