[Florence B. Price; Albany Records Troy 1295]
Oct. 1, 2012
Although you wouldn’t know it from the scarce recordings of the works of Florence B. Price (1888–1953), she stood alongside William Grant Still, Hall Johnson, and William Dawson
in an elite group of African American composers active early in the
twentieth century. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered her Symphony
in E Minor in 1933; she won major compositional prizes; she was proudly
cited by the Black press and favorably reviewed by the Chicago Tribune;
and her arranged spirituals were sung by Roland Hayes and Marian
Anderson.
Although southern-born, Price studied at the New England
Conservatory and moved to Chicago in 1927 to teach and write. Like other
composers impelled by what Samuel Floyd identified as a broad “Negro
Renaissance” ethos that flourished in Harlem and Chicago, Price produced
nationalistic works that melded Western classical composition
techniques with Black musical idioms.
Price’s relatively conservative neoromanticism marks these pieces,
with their lush orchestral textures, standard forms, lyrical melodies,
and tonal harmonies shot through with rich chromaticism. Their real
innovativeness hinges on the incorporation of Black musical traditions:
for instance, both pieces draw on the antebellum folk dance tradition of
“pattin’ juba.”
...
Also quite neoromantic is the virtuosity of the Concerto’s piano part,
which the composer played at its 1934 debut and which is ably and
clearly performed here by Karen Walwyn. With Rachmaninoff-like keyboard
figuration and textures, the piece announces its aesthetic intentions
immediately with a minor, blues-inflected descending motif voiced in
call-and-response between brass and winds. The lyrical middle section
and dancing final section give a cinematic quality to the 18-minute work
as it traverses multiple moods.
...
What is heard here is a
reconstruction of the instrumentation by composer Trevor Weston, drawn
from Price’s manuscript sources.
The tale of lost or overlooked works has marked Price’s legacy; many
of her compositions, including the two on this album, were never
published. Although the Symphony in E Minor marked the first
time a major orchestra played music by a Black female composer, the
current album is only the second recording of the work. This is
unfortunate, since the symphony’s second movement is the high point of
both the piece and the album. Built around a lyrical, chorale-like tune
in the brass that alternates with other musical episodes, the movement
concludes with chimes and a soaring tutti that reinforce its sacred
sensibilities.
The Center for Black Music Research
in Chicago, the force behind this album, is to be thanked for
re-introducing Price’s music with this high-quality recording and its
detailed liner notes containing biographical data and stylistic
descriptions.
Reviewed by Carrie Allen Tipton
[Florence B. Price, William Grant Still and William Levi Dawson are profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features complete Works lists for each composer by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]
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