[Marcus Eley, clarinet; Lucerne DeSa, piano - "But Not Forgotten" (Sono Luminus 92156) (Courtesy of Sono Luminus)]
The following excerpt is from an interview with Marcus Eley, clarinetist. It can be heard or read online:
New Classical Tracks - African-American Voices
by Julie Amacher, Minnesota Public Radio
September 11, 2012
St. Paul, Minn. —
As an African-American musician,
clarinetist Marcus Eley says he's in a perfect position to champion the
works of African-American composers, and that's precisely what he's does
on his latest release titled But Not Forgotten. "One of the
things I wanted to do in this recording is to salute the unsung heroes
of music composition by people who are African-American," he explains.
"And this recording is dedicated to those composers that I've had the
pleasure of working with or those composers that I've admired over the
years."
This recording actually came together about three years ago, while Marcus Eley was performing at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. "And
luckily for me, the emphasis of that festival was the music of the
Diaspora," he says. "And I thought, I've done similar recitals before in
the past of African-American composers. But I wanted to, in this case,
do something unique. I need something to hook the audience to the
recital, to encourage them to come, as it were. And I said a world
premiere would be great. So that's how one of the pieces I put together
on the CD happened."
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