Florence B. Price:
Concerto in One Movement and Symphony in E Minor [Symphony No. 1]
Recorded Music of the African Diaspora, Vol. 3
CBMR/Albany Records TROY1295 (2011)
Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953)
is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features
a comprehensive Works Lists by
Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma,
http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features
a comprehensive Works Lists by
Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma,
http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.
On August 17, 2013 AfriClassical posted: "Chicago Sinfonietta Presents Daring Program Blending Live Hip-Hop And Orchestral Classics In 'eMotion'” We presented the complete press release of the Chicago Sinfonietta, without comment.
August 27, 2013
Statements of Barbara Wright-Pryor, Dominique-René de Lerma and William J. Zick:
Statements of Barbara Wright-Pryor, Dominique-René de Lerma and William J. Zick:
The
following statements are responses to the announcement of the Chicago
Sinfonietta's plan for the opening concert of the coming season. The
undersigned grant full reprint permission and look forward to support of
the press and public.
"As the current President of Chicago Music Association, Br. No. 1, The
National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. (Since 1919), the
organization that championed the works of its member, composer Florence
Price, and underwrote the contract with Frederick Stock and The Chicago
Symphony Orchestra for the historical June 15,1933 premiere of Symphony
No. 1 in E minor, I am appalled by The Chicago Sinfonietta's upcoming
September 14 & 15, 2013 performance of "eMotion" that will extract
Movements 3 and 4 from the symphony as a whole to be re-envisioned as
accompaniment for hip-hop dance."
"This is disgraceful and reveals a total lack of respect for, or
understanding of, symphonic literature and/or works by Black composers
and Founding Music Director Paul Freeman's original mission for the
orchestra by its current musical and executive leadership."
Barbara Wright-Pryor
President, Chicago Music Association
"Florence
B. Price did not have an easy time of gaining recognition for the
excellence of her orchestral and symphonic compositions. Lacking other
avenues, Price concentrated on competitions. Horace J. Maxile, Jr.,
Associate Director of Research of the Center for Black Music Research at
Columbia College Chicago, wrote the liner notes for the historic
recording of Price's Concerto in One Movement and Symphony in E Minor,
Albany Records Troy1295 (2011). Maxile writes of Price's compositional
progress and experiences:
"This wide range of
influences coupled with strong craftmanship has left an indelible legacy
which is highlighted by her ground-breaking Symphony in E Minor,
which was the first prize winner of the 1932 Rodman Wanamaker Music
Contest and is considered among the main concert musical achievements of
the period. Premiered in 1933 by Frederick Stock and the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra at the Chicago World's Fair Century of Progress
Exhibition, Price's Symphony in E Minor, her first symphony, is the
first work by a black woman to be performed by a major symphony
orchestra in the United States."
"The Symphony in E
Minor's Rodman Wanamaker prize notwithstanding, the premier recording
was not made until 2011, some 78 years after the work's premiere. This
composition is to be reduced to Movements III and IV in the "Orchestra
Dance Mix". This "Collaborative Performance" clearly robs the Symphony
in E Minor of its integrity as a complete work of classical music.
"Similar treatment of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Suite will not
significantly affect the composer's extremely well-known legacy as a
composer. Florence Price's symphonies are rarely performed, and are far
more vulnerable when used for non-classical purposes."
William J, Zick
Webmaster, AfriClassical.com
"My association with Paul Freeman began 43 years ago when plans were
being formulated in what resulted in the award-winning 9 LP recordings
of The Black Composers Series, issued initially by Columbia Records and
now available from the College Music Society. The issue of these discs
helped confirm the standings of such giants as George Walker, Ulysses
Kay, and William Grant Still, and introduce composers as Saint-Georges,
José White, and José Maurício Nunes-Garcia. I know it gave valid hope to
the younger generation, certainly including Adolphus Hailstork and
Talib Hakim, who have then established themselves as gifted and
outstanding creators.
"During
these years we met often in the United States and in Europe, and I came
to know Dr. Freeman as an uncompromising person, unswerving in his
reasoned steps toward his goal of service to the very highest standards
in Black artistry. I saw him evolve into a jet-set conductor who
nonetheless gave his dedication and devotion to his position in British
Columbia and then to his dream of realizing a major non-discriminating
ensemble in Chicago, one which had a distinct and well-defined mission
from the start regarding minority composers and performers, faithfully
presented. This was an astonishing accomplishment; all similar efforts
by others had failed. Paul's guidance offered the public an alternate
to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, on a basis that was no less lofty.
"
In my own work as administrator, I knew that diluted goals and changed
directions emasculate the mission. What I have heard taking place with
the Chicago Sinfonietta is deplorable, trivializing its very reason for
being, in the false expectation that this will encourage audience
development, but any attracted to those lowered standards will only be
for a continuation of that level, cemented there by the absence of
aesthetic values and artistic integrity.
"No less criminal is the shameful abandonment of the noble intents of
Dr. Freeman, so soon after his absence. Following this foolish path
will result in the Sinfonietta's becoming much less than a pops
ensemble, no longer faithful to its important distinction, disinterested
in its reason to exist, and with no laudable future."
Dominique-René de Lerma
Professor emeritus, Lawrence University
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