[Irene Britton Smith (1907-1999)]
Dr. Barbara J. Rogers is a Professor of Piano in the Music Department at Northwestern College, St. Paul, Minnesota. According to her faculty biography, “Her scholarly interest is in art music by African-American composers and women composers, both historical and contemporary.” On Jan. 4, 2010 Dr. Rogers wrote in the Guest Book at AfriClassical.com: “My visit was in pursuit of further background information on Irene Britton Smith, whose Sonata for Violin and Piano I am preparing to perform with a colleague. Thank you!”
We asked Dr. Rogers to tell us about her performance of the Irene Britton Smith Sonata for Violin and Piano. She did so on July 5, 2010:
“On a Northwestern College Faculty Artist Series recital program entitled 'Hidden Treasures' at 7:30 p. m. Monday, January 25, 2010, in Nazareth Chapel on the Northwestern College (Saint Paul, MN) campus, violinist David Kozamchak and pianist Barbara J. Rogers performed Irene Britton Smith's Sonata for Violin and Piano. Also performed on this all-20th-century program were the Suite for Violin and Piano by William Grant Still, Bohuslav Martinu's Five Madrigal Stanzas, and short works by Mary Carr Moore and Alan Hovhaness. The audience was receptive and appreciative.”
Smith's Sonata for Violin and Piano (15:07) was published by Vivace Press in 1996 and is the most prominent work on the CD Kaleidoscope: Music by African-American Women; Leonarda LE 339 (1995). The Irene Britton Smith Collection is at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago, http://www.colum.edu/cbmr
The classical music website ArkivMusic.com gives this critique of her Sonata for Violin and Piano: “Irene Britton Smith's Sonata for Violin and Piano brings Brahms to mind; it has the thick-textured essence of Brahms but with just a flavor of French impressionism.” [Irene Britton Smith (1907-1999) and William Grant Still (1895-1978) are profiled at AfriClassical.com]
Hidden TreasuresNorthwestern College
January 25, 2010
Sonata for Violin and Piano
Irene Britton Smith
Dr. Barbara J. Rogers
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