New York Times: "revival of interest in the composer Florence Price continues this week"

The New York Times

January 11, 2019

The welcome revival of interest in the composer Florence Price continues this week, with the release of a buoyant recording of her First and Fourth symphonies, with the Fort Smith Symphony of Arkansas conducted by John Jeter.

Both works bear trace influences of folk forms — including, as the musicologist Douglas W. Shadle writes in the liner notes, a reference to “Wade in the Water” during the Fourth’s opening movement. But there are as many sections that seem like a composer channeling her own individual muse. Among the most compelling moments is the close of the Fourth — a scherzo full of slaloming melody (and, in the final minutes, some pleasingly potent tutti chords). SETH COLTER WALLS