[John McLaughlin Williams, violin and Dr. Linette Popov-Park, piano]
Yesterday we posted "Charles Kaufmann: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor now has his own Facebook page." Charles Kaufmann, Artistic Director of The Longfellow Chorus, replies:
Thanks, Bill. In case you haven't seen this, here is John McLaughlin Williams version of Keep me from sinking down:
Coleridge-Taylor: Keep Me From Sinking Down - John McLaughlin Williams [YouTube (5:32)]
Charles Kaufmann
Grammy-winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams is also an accomplished performer whose performances and recordings include violin, piano and harpsichord. He writes of Keep Me From Sinking Down and this 2008 performance at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan, uploaded to YouTube August 13, 2012:
Published on Aug 13, 2012 by minacciosa
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's setting for
violin and orchestra of the Negro spiritual "Keep Me From Sinking Down"
was written in 1911 for the American violinist Maud Powell, who was also
the dedicatee of the composer's (at that time unfinished) Violin
Concerto. Powell premiered it virtually immediately, after which the
work (which was never published) fell into complete obscurity until I
gave the first modern performance of the original violin and orchestra
version on December 2, 2011 with the Ypsilanti Symphony, conducted by
Adam Riccinto. The present performance of the composer's violin and
piano reduction is from a 2008 concert done with the eminent pianist Dr.
Linette Popov-Parks of Madonna University.
I've performed the
work with piano accompaniment many times since receiving the reduction
and full score from William Thomas in 1996. (Thomas is the founder of
the Coleridge Ensemble and the producer of the world premiere recordings
of Coleridge-Taylor's Nonet, Fantasiestücke and Five Negro Melodies for
Piano Trio.) I set to work immediately to create new parts from this
score using Finale, which I finally got to use last year.
The work
itself is a luminous re-imagining of the original melody.
Coleridge-Taylor lifts it from its spiritual origins and plants it
firmly within the concert hall aesthetic by using the tune as subject
for a series of little variations contained within the framework of
simple ABA form. He employs nothing jazzy or modal, yet he subtly
underlines the inherent beauty in the melody through creative harmony
and modulation. The overall effect is one of endless melody and rapt
poetry. While "Keep Me From Sinking Down" is not one of the composer's
more ambitious works, it is without doubt one of his loveliest.
"Keep Me From Sinking Down" for Violin & Piano by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
John McLaughlin Williams - Violin
Dr. Linette Popov-Parks - Piano
[Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com,
which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof.
Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
We
are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the
U.K., www.SCTF.org.uk]
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