Michael S. Wright: Piano Works of Hortense Kerr & Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Also Not Recorded

[Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Conducting the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble. Photo courtesy of the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago]

Two readers have asked why none of the piano works of Philippa Duke Schuyler appear to have been recorded. John McLaughlin Williams has commented that Philippa Duke Schuyler made only one recording on an obscure label. We understand her own compositions were not part of the program. Michael S. Wright has commented by email:

“Thanks for circulating this. Unfortunately, I can mention several other examples of supreme performing musicians of African origin and descent such as Hortense Kerr who have not been recorded. Another example is Coleridge Taylor Perkinson as a pianist. I had the pleasure to hear him play to his grandson and was totally mesmerised by what I heard. In the process, I recorded extracts on Hi8 video which I will digitise one day.

Regards

Mike”

A Google.com search under the name of Hortense Kerr discloses that in 1996 Hortense R. Kerr wrote a thesis on other composers of African descent for her D.M.A. at the Catholic University of America. It was entitled: “The chamber music for piano and strings of three African-American composers :--the chevalier de Saint-Georges, William Grant Still, and Roque Cordero.” [The pages on Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) and William Grant Still (1895-1978) at AfriClassical.com feature Works Lists compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com The life, music and fencing of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) are also discussed in detail at the website.]