Listener Poll on DiscoverClassical.org in Dayton, Ohio Places William Grant Still's 'Afro-American Symphony' No. 11 on 'Top 100 Countdown'

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.

William Grant Still Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American)

Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

Neal Gittelman, Conductor

DPO Alive

Judith Anne Still has forwarded news from a friend in Dayton, Ohio that an annual poll of listeners chose William Grant Still's Symphony No. 1 (Afro-American), as No. 11 in the Top 100 Countdown on December 31, 2014.  The version played on the program is shown above.  It was recorded by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra under its Music Director, Neal Gittelman, in 2010 and released as a limited edition CD on the new DPO Alive label.

Maestro Gittelman writes in the liner notes: "To my knowledge, this is the first recording of the Afro-American Symphony that unites Still's music with the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar.  Still prefaced each movement with a Dunbar epigraph.  And while these brief excerpts evoke the moods of the music that follows, the full poems from which they are drawn do so even more."

http://discoverclassical.org/countdown.htm

Top 100 Countdown

Here is the complete list of Discover Classical's Top 100 Countdown for 2014. Thank you to everyone who voted for their favorites and shared their stories with us. We look forward to bringing you another year of the music you love.
Download a printable copy of the entire list (PDF).

1. Antonin Dvorak
   Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"
2. Sergei Rachmaninoff
   Piano Concerto No. 2
3. Aaron Copland
   Suite from Appalachian Spring
4. Ludwig van Beethoven
   Symphony No. 5
5. Ludwig van Beethoven
   Symphony No. 9 "Choral"
6. Ludwig van Beethoven
   Symphony No. 7
7. Modest Mussorgsky
   Pictures at an Exhibition
8. George Frederick Handel
   Messiah
9. Samuel Barber
   Adagio for Strings
10. Ludwig van Beethoven
    Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor"
11. William Grant Still
    Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American"
    
    Comments by email:                                                1) An unprecedented acknowledgment of the genius of William Grant Still. WGS motto 'We all rise together or we don't rise at all.' John [John Malveaux]
    2) Thanks, Bill--I think this is just marvelous. And I know we WILL all rise together or not at all.  [Judith Anne Still]