Monday, October 17, 2011

'I enjoyed the programme too, but how come none of her music seems to have been recorded?'

[Philippa Duke Schuyler]

Gwendoline Y. Fortune, Ed.D. commented on Colour of Genius, the 20-minute BBC Radio 3 documentary on Philippa Duke Schuyler. On Oct. 16, 2011 AfriClassical posted: “Gwen Fortune: 'Today, there are tens of thousands of “genetic” Philippa Schuylers, being hugged and allowed to grow.'” In response, another commenter says: “I enjoyed the programme too, but how come none of her music seems to have been recorded? There is nothing of hers on either YouTube or Amazon, and a Google search brings up nothing to listen to either.”
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3 comments:

  1. GwenOctober 17, 2011 at 11:25 AM

    I, too, was disappointed. I expected to hear not only Schuyler's music, but her performing.

    Is it blindness on the part of the producers or what?

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  2. JMWOctober 17, 2011 at 7:23 PM

    The producers bear no blame for not including examples of Schuyler's pianism. There is a near complete lack of availability of live recordings of Schuyler's playing. She made only a single commercial recording, on an obscure label that was better known for popular music. (That is precisely why I was asked to make an informal recording of her famous juvenilia.) Unlike other prominent pianists of the day, she made no recordings for RCA, Remington or Columbia, which is perhaps another example of the obstacles she faced in trying to promote a career.

    For further explanation, I refer you to the posts that started it all:

    http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/08/philippa-schuyler-genius-or-genetic.html

    http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/08/philippa-schuyler-moment.html

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  3. GwenOctober 19, 2011 at 8:24 AM

    Thank you for the explanation as to the lack of recordings of Schuyler--and other excellent musicians. I thought as much, but hoped otherwise. I do not want, nor like, to see denial everywhere, but that is difficult when such is the reality of our world, especially earlier in the history. Today, an additional problem is the denial of value to music that is not "pop."

    I awaken to NPR because it is the only station that does not blast my ears.T there is no classical music on my local station only talk and evening pop. Sad, when lovers of classical music were initiators of NPR.

    ReplyDelete