[Heart
On The Wall: African American Art Songs For Orchestra;
Louise Toppin, Soprano; Dvořák Symphony Orchestra; Julius P.
Williams, Conductor; Albany Troy 1314 (2011)]
The
career of Maestro Julius P. Williams is detailed at AfriClassical.com
and at his personal website, http://www.juliuspwilliams.com
We welcome an exquisitely beautiful and profoundly enjoyable album
of the singing of soprano Louise Toppin and the masterful conducting
of the Dvořák
Symphony Orchestra by
Maestro Julius P. Williams.
Maestro Williams writes in the
liner notes of Heart
On The Wall: African American Art Songs For Orchestra,
Albany 1314:
“Heart
on the Wall was
written for coloratura Mattiwilda Dobbs in 1968. This collection of
miniatures, which is written in the Germanic art song tradition,
describes scenes centered on the commedia dell'arte figure Pierrot.”
In the opening song Heart, the character Pierrot offers his heart to
a public (represented by a syncopated piano accompaniment) that is
too busy to notice him. The second song Remembrance, reminds us that
life without really experiencing it, is analogous to remembering a
fragrance without remembering the flower that produced it.”
Robert Owens composed the first five songs, Heart on the Wall, using poems of Langston Hughes. Julius P. Williams wrote Myths of History, comprised of Africa, History and Slavery. Lyric Suite, five songs composed by Robert L. Morris, is based on traditional texts. The four Songs of Harriet Tubman are the work of Nkeiru Okoye and are included in her opera about Harriet Tubman.
Robert Owens composed the first five songs, Heart on the Wall, using poems of Langston Hughes. Julius P. Williams wrote Myths of History, comprised of Africa, History and Slavery. Lyric Suite, five songs composed by Robert L. Morris, is based on traditional texts. The four Songs of Harriet Tubman are the work of Nkeiru Okoye and are included in her opera about Harriet Tubman.
Lynn
René Bayley reviews the disc in FANFARE Magazine:
“This
unusual CD presents four first-time recordings of song cycles
by black American composers, sung by soprano Louise Toppin and
conducted by one of the composers, Julius P. Williams. One of the
more arresting features of these cycles is that they are all for
soprano and orchestra rather than piano accompaniment.
"The earliest of
these, Heart
on the Wall,
is not based on an African-American theme but rather on the commedia
dell’arte figure
of Pierrot, though the poems were written by Langston Hughes. It was
composed in 1968 for the famed coloratura soprano Mattiwilda Dobbs by
Robert Owens (b.1925), who has lived in Germany since 1959.” “The
music is tonal, but with unusual harmonic substitutions at times. Much the same may
be said of Williams’s Myths
of History
(2005), based on the writings of Edgar Toppin. Indeed, from a
strictly musical standpoint, the melodic structures and harmonic
frameworks are remarkably similar.”
"Robert L. Morris,
the writer of the Lyric
Suite,
has an unusual background. He was already composing and arranging
while still in grammar school; while in college, he was a ghost
composer-arranger for Duke Ellington’s benefit show My
People.
His music has been performed by Philip Brunelle’s Vocal Essence,
the Dale Warland Singers, the Moses Hogan Singers, and Toronto’s R.
Nathaniel Dett Chorale. This suite is based on black vernacular
texts. Appropriately, Morris’s music is in the style of American
spirituals, though his melodies are original and his orchestration
textured with dark winds and brass.”
The reviewer says of
the four songs of composer Nkeiru Okoye:
“This song cycle is actually a
suite of the four 'name' arias sung by the title character in her
opera Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom. As
a child, Tubman introduces herself as Araminta or just plain 'Minty,'
her childish patter contrasting with the realities of life as a
slave. Later, 'My name is Harriet now, don’t call me Minty
anymore,' then the adult Harriet introduces herself as a free woman.
In the end, the seasoned leader in the Underground Railroad
proclaims, 'I Am Moses, the Liberator.'”
"I should be remiss if I did not mention that Julius Williams’s conducting is superbly detailed in texture, bringing out the unusual timbres used by these composers (including himself) yet being sensitive enough to realize that he is accompanying a singer, and therefore should not overpower her. The Dvořák Symphony Orchestra plays extremely well considering that this music is probably not rhythmically indigenous to it. An excellent disc."
"I should be remiss if I did not mention that Julius Williams’s conducting is superbly detailed in texture, bringing out the unusual timbres used by these composers (including himself) yet being sensitive enough to realize that he is accompanying a singer, and therefore should not overpower her. The Dvořák Symphony Orchestra plays extremely well considering that this music is probably not rhythmically indigenous to it. An excellent disc."
Disclosure:
A
review copy of this CD was provided by the record label.
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