Albany Records Troy1430 (2013)
Albert Rudolph Lee, D.M.A.
The American classical
pianist and composer George Walker, 91, distinguished himself at a
young age and has been honored with numerous awards in his long and
productive career. In 2012 he received the Aaron Copland Award of
ASCAP.
George Walker has a website at http://georgetwalker.com/ and has been
featured as a highly accomplished Composer of African Descent at
AfriClassical.com since the website's early days. He has also been
the subject of numerous posts at AfriClassical.blogspot.com, as his
works have been frequently performed and recorded. In addition to releases of complete recordings of his works, compilation CDs
have sometimes paired his works with those of other composers.
A
recent example is his first recording on the Delos label, Our
American Roots: Gershwin, Barber, Walker, Copland;
Emmanuel
Feldman, cello; Joy Cline Phinney, piano; Delos 3449 (2013). George
Walker is represented on the disc by Sonata
for Cello and Piano (1957).
The
Albany Records release George
Walker: Great American Orchestral Works, Vol. 4, Troy1430,
is
comprised of four works, all conducted by Ian Hobson. Sinfonia
No. 4 (Strands) and
Antifonys
for String Orchestra are
performed by Sinfonia Varsovia. Sinfonia da Camera performs
Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, with
Albert
R. Lee, tenor, and Movements
for Cello and Orchestra, with
cellist Dmitry Kousov.
The
liner notes by the composer tell us Sinfonia
No. 4 (Strands) was
co-commissioned by the New Jersey Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony,
the Pittsburgh Symphony and the National Symphony. The New Jersey
Symphony gave the premiere performance in March, 2012, the composer
writes, and the other three orchestras included the composition in
their 2012-2013 seasons.
Sinfonia
No. 4 (Strands) is
written in a single movement, with a length of 10:45. It makes use
of excerpts from the spirituals There
Is A Balm In Gilead and
Roll,
Jordan, Roll. George
Walker writes that
Antifonys for String Orchestra (7:08)
“...was composed in 1967 for a double string quartet, seven winds
and percussion. It received its premiere at the Composers Conference
at Bennington College in Vermont in 1967.”
With
respect to the third work on the recording, the liner notes tell us
“Lilacs
for Voice and Orchestra received
the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1996.” George Walker was the first
composer of African descent to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Music
during his lifetime. The notes explain that the Boston Symphony
commissioned the composition “...for a concert in honor of the
tenor, Roland Hayes who had made his American orchestral debut with
that orchestra.”
The
Walt Whitman poem When
Lilacs Last In The Door-yard Bloom'd is
the source of the text of the song. The liner notes remind us that
the poem was “...a poignant reflection on the assassination of
President Abraham Lincoln.” The vocalist is the tenor Albert
Rudolph Lee, D.M.A.,
www.albertrudolphlee.com,
who recently received his doctoral degree from the University of
Florida. Dr. Lee is on the Voice
Faculty
of the University of Nevada in Reno. He has received critical praise
for performances with numerous prominent ensembles, including the
Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Theater of
Pittsburgh and Berkshire Opera Company, his website tells us.
The
recording concludes with a very recent work, Movements
for Cello and Orchestra,
which has three movements and was finished in Spring, 2012. The
cellist is Dmitri Kousov. The composer explains: “Its three
movements incorporate significantly revised material from an earlier
work. The ascending motive that begins the introduction of the first
movement becomes an integral and unifying connection within the
movement.”
He later writes: “Figurations in the solo cello part are
interrupted by explosive passages in the brass.”
“Harp
and strings” precede the principal theme of the second movement,
the notes indicate. The final paragraph of the liner notes begins:
“The vigorous beginning of the third movement employs
the
identical intervallic content heard in the opening of the first
movement.”
The latest Albany Records recording
continues to expand George Walker's recorded repertoire of modern
classical music with a distinctive sound which is both accessible and
rewarding to the listener.
Disclosure: A review copy of this
recording was provided by the record label.
