Liverman says, “Right now, it is more important than ever
to celebrate the contributions of Black composers, and I’m honored to
give voice to the art songs on this album. There was an enormous amount
of material to choose from; Black composers wrote so much more than just
spirituals! The album is dedicated to my late mentor Robert Brown who
influenced the lives of so many students through his many years of
teaching at The Governor’s School for the Arts in Richmond, Virginia. I
hope this album inspires you to keep striving to have our voices heard
and to speak up constantly and work towards equality.”
Damien Sneed composed I Dream a World for the 2017
Carnegie Hall debut recital of baritone Justin Michael Austin. Sneed’s
setting musically depicts the hope for the next generation with rich
jazz harmonies, while ascending chords inch toward freedom on the line
“where every man is free.” The final statement of the song, “I dream a
world, my world,” leaves the listener with an unresolved final cadence
that conveys a feeling of uncertainty.
Henry “Harry” Thacker Burleigh (1866 – 1949) is credited
with being the first composer to create spirituals in an art song format
for presentation in concert halls. He attended the National
Conservatory where Antonin Dvořák was the Director and interactions led
to one of the most unlikely, yet powerful collaborations in American
musical history. Dvořák, who heard Burleigh singing spirituals, learned
more about this vernacular song from him and Dvořák encouraged Burleigh
to use the wonderful source material of his people in his own
composition. The Five Songs of Laurence Hope composed in 1915
were written to the poetry of Adela Florence Nicholson (1865–1904), who
wrote under the pseudonym “Laurence Hope.” Her poetry reveals,
autobiographically, the tumultuous relationships in her life. She
suffered from mental health issues throughout her life and when her
husband died suddenly, she consumed poison and committed suicide at the
age of 39.
The song “Amazing Grace” is commonly mistaken for a
spiritual, as it was composed at the height of the slave trade. It was
not created by enslaved Africans, however, but penned by slave ship
captain John Newton (1725 – 1807). Newton wrote his famous words after
praying for deliverance during a storm at sea and his subsequent
conversion from slave ship captain to abolitionist is underscored in the
opening line, “Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That sav’d a wretch
like me!” This song has become a prayer for comfort in times of
tribulation and is frequently heard at funerals. Harrison Leslie Adams’s
Amazing Grace, written in 1992, bespeaks a gratitude that
bubbles with exuberant energy and hope. Adams’s composition takes the
listener on a journey that pays homage to the enslaved Africans of
Newton’s version as he expresses optimism for a brighter future for
African Americans.
One of Langston Hughes’s favorite contemporary
collaborators was Margaret Allison Bonds (1913 – 1972). A native of
Chicago, Bonds and her mentor, Chicago transplant Florence Price
(1887–1953), made history by winning the city’s famed Wanamaker
competition. Not only did Bonds win first prize for one of her songs,
but she also became the first African American to perform with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Many of her songs reflect pride in her race,
including the Three Dream Portraits written to texts of Hughes
in 1959 for two prominent African American opera singers: Adele Addison
and Lawrence Winters. Written at the height of the civil rights
movement, they express the Black pride that became a hallmark of the
blossoming Black Arts movement.
Thomas Kerr (1915 – 1988), was a pianist and organist who
graduated from the Eastman School of Music with three degrees in piano
and composition. His musical output included solo voice, piano,
instrumental, and choral works. He was Professor and Chair of the Piano
Department at Howard University, where his work as a composer and
teacher influenced generations of music students. His Riding to Town
(1943) is a setting of the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906),
the first African American poet to achieve international fame. His
poetry and stories depict the oppression of African Americans during the
Jim Crow era. As with Hughes, his authentic poetic voice has continued
to inspire contemporary composers to produce new musical settings.
Will Liverman commissioned Shawn Okpebholo (b. 1981) to write Two Black Churches
(2020) for this album. The new work is a musical diptych of two poems
by Dudley Randall and Marcus Amaker that explores the impact of two
watershed moments in the American Civil Rights Movement – the Birmingham
church bombing in 1963 and the Charleston church shooting in 2015. The
text of the first movement is a poem by Dudley Randall, Ballad of Birmingham,
a narrative account of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing from the
perspectives of the mother of one victim and her child. Stylistically,
this movement juxtaposes 1960s Black gospel with contemporary art song.
Subtle references to the civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome,” and
the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” are also heard. The song concludes with four
sustained soft chords resembling church bells. Each of the chords is
composed of four notes that punctuate and amplify the four young lives
lost. The text of the second movement is a poem written especially for
this composition by Marcus Amaker, poet laureate of Charleston, South
Carolina, called The Rain. This poem poignantly reflects the
shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church. Set in the coastal city of
Charleston, which often floods, The Rain is a beautifully
haunting metaphor on racism and the inability of Blacks in America to
stay above water — a consequence of the flood of injustice and the
weight of oppression. In this composition, the number nine is
significant, symbolizing the nine people who perished that day.
Okpebholo is Professor of Music Composition at Wheaton College
Conservatory of Music and a widely sought-after and award-winning
composer, most recently winning the American Prize in Composition
(2020).
Composer Robert Owens selected poems representative of a
dark time in Langston Hughes’s life to tell the story of a dark time in
his own personal history: the Civil Rights era and Martin Luther King’s
assassination. Using poems from the 1920s (“A House in Taos”), 1930s
(“Genius Child”), and 1940s (“Little Song,” “Jamie,” and “Faithful
One”), he created the song cycle Mortal Storm, Op. 29 in 1969.
Growing up in Denison, Texas, Robert Owens (1925 – 2017) faced his own
“storms” of racism. As a result of this racial tension, he left the
United States in 1968 to pursue opportunities in Germany and never
returned to live in the U.S. He made his career in Germany as a pianist,
composer, actor, and director.
The album closes with Will Liverman on piano in his own arrangement of Robert Fariña’s Birmingham Sunday. Richard Fariña (1937–1966) wrote Birmingham Sunday in
1964 to memorialize the bombing in 1963 of the 16th Street Baptist
Church that killed Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins,
and Cynthia Wesley. The melody is borrowed from the Scottish folk tune
“I Loved a Lass” (aka “The False Bride”). The piece was first performed
by Fariña and his sister-in-law, Joan Baez. Liverman’s arrangement
serves as a fitting final tribute to the struggles of African Americans.
It indicates past and present injustices and provides an opportunity to
refocus and reframe the American promise of equality for all its
citizens. While making for a poignant and powerful conclusion to this
musical offering it also serves as a reminder that the struggle against
racism in America has not concluded but is very much a present struggle.
About Will Liverman
Called “one of the most versatile singing artists performing today” (Bachtrack), baritone Will Liverman continues
to bring his compelling performances to audiences nationwide. He will
star in the Metropolitan Opera’s re-opening production of Terence
Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones in fall 2021, in addition to reprising his roles in Akhnaten (Horemhab) and The Magic Flute (Papageno) during the Met’s 2021-2022 season. Liverman’s new opera, The Factotum,
written together with DJ/recording artist K. Rico, will also be
developed in partnership with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Ryan Opera
Center this season.
Will is the recipient of the 2020 Marian Anderson Vocal
Award, and recently received a 2019 Richard Tucker Career Grant and
Sphinx Medal of Excellence. Liverman’s recent engagements include the
Met Opera’s holiday production of The Magic Flute, in addition to its premiere of Philip Glass’ Akhnaten and Malcolm Fleet in Nico Muhly’s Marnie. He also recently appeared as Pantalone in The Love of Three Oranges at Opera Philadelphia, as Silvio in Pagliacci at Opera Colorado, as Schaunard in La bohème with Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera and Opera Philadelphia; and as The Pilot in The Little Prince with Tulsa Opera. His album, Whither Must I Wander, with pianist Jonathan King, out January 2020 on Odradek Records, was named one of the Chicago Tribune’s “best classical recordings of 2020” and BBC Music Magazine praised Liverman’s “firm, oaky baritone with a sharp interpretive attitude… admirable poise and clarity of intention.”
Liverman has performed the leading role of Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with
Seattle Opera, Virginia Opera, Kentucky Opera, Madison Opera and Utah
Opera. He originated the role of Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird
with Opera Philadelphia, in addition to performing the role with
English National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madison Opera, and at
the Apollo Theater. Other highlights include the role of Tommy McIntyre
in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Fellow Travelers for its Lyric Unlimited initiative; Papageno in The Magic Flute with Florentine Opera and Central City Opera; his role debut as Marcello in La bohème with Portland Opera; his debut with Seattle Opera as Raimbaud in Le Comte Ory; Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia and Beaumarchais in The Ghosts of Versailles with Wolf Trap Opera; Andrew Hanley in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ The Manchurian Candidate with Minnesota Opera; Sam in The Pirates of Penzance with Atlanta Opera; the Foreman at the Mill in Jenůfa and the Protestant Minister in Menotti’s The Last Savage with Santa Fe Opera.
Expanding into the concert repertoire, Liverman performed the title role in a concert version of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and was a featured soloist in Brahms’ Requiem with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, in Handel’s Messiah with the Seattle Symphony, in Carmina Burana
with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor
with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He was also recently featured in
the Sphinx Virtuosi concert at Carnegie Hall, in addition to appearing
in Schubert’s Die Winterreise at The Barns at Wolf Trap Opera.
Liverman has received a 2017 3Arts Award, a George London
Award, and was recognized as a classical division Luminarts Fellow by
the Luminarts Cultural Foundation. In 2015, he won the Stella Maris
International Vocal Competition, received the Gerda Lissner Charitable
Fund Award, and received a top prize from Opera Index. He was a grand
finalist in the 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and
additionally was a first prize winner in the Gerda Lissner International
Vocal Competition, a grand prize winner of the Bel Canto Foundation
Competition, and a recipient of a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the
Richard Tucker Music Foundation.
Liverman concluded his tenure at the prestigious Ryan Opera
Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2015. He previously was a Young
Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival. He holds his Master of Music
degree from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelor of Music degree from
Wheaton College in Illinois. Visit www.willliverman.com for more information.
About Paul Sánchez
Praised as a “great artist” (José Feghali, 2013; Cecilia Rodrigo, 2019), Paul Sánchez is a pianist and composer. Of his recent engagements performing music of Ives and Gershwin for Music Unwound: American Roots, a program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Joseph Horowitz stated, “Sanchez’s account of Rhapsody in Blue was original – the most bewitchingly lyric I have ever encountered.” In a review of Sánchez’s CD Magus Insipiens,
featuring three of Sánchez’s song cycles, Colin Clarke writes, “This is
one of the most beautiful discs in my collection... haunting in the
extreme,” while WFMT’s Henry Fogel, former president of the League of
American Orchestras and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, states, “This is
hauntingly beautiful music... works of originality and a distinctive
musical personality.”
\With seven published CDs as of 2020, new releases in 2020–2021 include Mysteria Fidei,
featuring new music by David M. Gordon; an album of new solo piano
works by Graham Lynch; and spirituals of Shawn Okpebholo in
collaboration with J’Nai Bridges and Will Liverman.
Dr. Sánchez is Director of Piano Studies at the College of
Charleston in South Carolina. He is a co-founder of the San Francisco
International Piano Festival, Charleston Chamber Music Intensive, and
Dakota Sky Foundation. A Fulbright fellow from 2005– 2007, Sánchez
earned his Master of Spanish Music degree under Maria Teresa Monteys and
Alicia de Larrocha. He studied with Tamás Ungár at Texas Christian
University, graduating summa cum laude, with honors; and with Douglas
Humpherys at the Eastman School of Music, where he completed his Master
of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. Sánchez is a New Piano
Collective artist. www.paultsanchez.com
About Cedille Records
Launched in November 1989 by James Ginsburg, Grammy Award-winning Cedille Records
(pronounced say-DEE) is dedicated to showcasing and promoting the most
noteworthy classical artists in and from the Chicago area.
Cedille has recorded more than 180 Chicago artists, with
more than 80 making their professional recording debuts on the label.
Its catalog includes the world premieres of more than 300 classical
compositions.
The audiophile-oriented label releases every new album in
multiple formats — physical CD, 96 kHz , 24-bit, studio-quality FLAC
download, and 320 Kbps MP3 download — and on major streaming services.
An independent nonprofit enterprise, Cedille Records is the
label of Cedille Chicago, NFP. Sales of physical CDs and digital
downloads and streams cover only a small percentage of the label’s
costs. Tax-deductible donations from individual music-lovers and grants
from charitable organizations account for most of its revenue.
Cedille’s headquarters are at 1205 W. Balmoral Ave., Chicago, IL 60640; call 773-989-2515; email: info@cedillerecords.org. Website: www.cedillerecords.org.
Cedille Records is distributed in the Western Hemisphere by
Naxos of America and its distribution partners, by Naxos Music UK, and
by other independent distributors in the Naxos network in classical
music markets around the world.
Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers Track List
1. Damien Sneed (b. 1979) – I Dream a World [2:39]
Henry Burleigh (1866 – 1949) – Five Songs of Laurence Hope [15:48]
2. I. Worth While [2:00]
3. II. The Jungle Flower [3:16]
4. III. Kashmiri Song [3:26]
5. IV. Among the Fuchsias [2:57]
6. V. Till I Wake [3:57]
7. Leslie Adams (b. 1932) – Amazing Grace [3:19]
Margaret Bonds (1913 – 1972) – Three Dream Portraits [5:52]
8. I. Minstrel Man [2:01]
9. II. Dream Variation [2:07]
10. III. I, Too [1:39]
11. Thomas Kerr (1915 – 1988) – Riding to Town [3:09]
Shawn E. Okpebholo (b. 1981) – Two Black Churches* [15:23]
12. I. Ballad of Birmingham [9:19]
13. II. The Rain [6:01]
Robert Owens (1925 – 2017) – Mortal Storm, Op. 29 [10:17]
14. I. A House in Taos [3:21]
15. II. Little Song [2:19]
16. III. Jaime [0:37]
17. IV. Faithful One [1:42]
18. V. Genius Child [2:08]
19. Richard Fariña (1937 – 1966) arr. Will Liverman – Birmingham Sunday [3:50]
Will Liverman, piano
TT – 60:52
*World Premiere Recording
