Monday, January 21, 2013

WOSU.org, Columbus, Ohio: 'William Grant Still: Song of a New Race for MLK Day'





Naxos 8.559676 (2011) is the most recent recording of Still's Symphony No. 2.  The Fort Smith Symphony is led by John Jeter, Conductor.

YouTube: William Grant Still's Symphony No. 2 in G minor, Song of A New Race (8:23)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uaHe5hvWu6w

Classical 101
John Rittmeyer

For this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we are featuring William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 2 in G minor, Song of a New Race on Symphony @ 7.  It dates from 1937, seven years after his [Symphony No. 1, Afro-American], which won him widespread recognition.

The composer said of his second symphony, “the Afro-American Symphony represented the Negro of days not far removed from the Civil War.  The Symphony in G minor represents the American colored man of today, in so many instances a totally new individual….”

Still, who has been called “the dean” of African-American composers, was born in Mississippi in 1895, grew up in Little Rock Arkansas, and lived in Ohio for a time. He graduated from Wilberforce University, one of Ohio’s two historically black colleges, and was awarded a scholarship at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He eventually moved to Los Angeles, California, where Still had a distinguished career in music, and died in 1978.
...
We’ll conclude with an African-American artist who has an Ohio connection, soprano Kathleen Battle, from Portsmouth, singing a traditional spiritual with Jessye Norman.  I hope you can join me this evening on Classical 101 for this hour of music honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

[William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com Recordings, sheet music and books of William Grant Still are available at www.WilliamGrantStill.com, which is operated by the composer's daughter Judith Anne Still]

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