[C]ircumstance introduced me to Florence Price. She was incredible. The first Black woman to have a symphony played by one of the major American orchestras in 1933. At the height of the Jim Crow era, in an industry that still refuses to confront its anti-Blackness and racism more generally, Florence Price’s music was so undeniably remarkable even the racists couldn’t keep her out.
There’s been a recent revival of her music, and yet so much of it remains unrecorded. This stunning movement from her String Quartet in G Major, for instance, isn’t available on Spotify because the piece hasn’t been recorded on a label.
Florence Price became my entry point into the world of Black Western classical composers. There are so many gems here that I have only begun to familiarize myself with. George Walker. Margaret Bonds. Joseph Bologne. Valerie Capers. William Grant Still. I know I’ve only just scratched the surface.
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