Raymond Harvey, Alexandra Mascolo-David & Kalamazoo S.O. in 'Francisco Mignone: Fantasias Brasileiras' White Pine Music

[TOP: Francisco Mignone: Fantasias Brasileiras; Alexandra Mascolo-David, pianist; Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra; Raymond Harvey, Conductor; White Pine Music WPM223 (2010) BOTTOM: Raymond Harvey, Music Director and Conductor, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra]

We have long had an interest in the classical music of Brazil and other countries in South America. For several years we have been listening to Allison Brewster Franzetti's piano CD South American Landscapes; Premier Recordings (1994), which briefly samples the piano works of Francisco Mignone. It was a delight to find a complete recording devoted exclusively to Mignone's Fantasias Brasileiras (Brazilian Fantasies). Full-bodied brass and great rhythmic variety characterize this distinctive recording of Brazilian classical music. The CD is available online for $15 plus shipping. It may be ordered from White Pine Music at: http://music.cmich.edu/resources/white_pine_music/
releases/release.php?id=223

Raymond Harvey is Music Director and Conductor of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and graduated from the Yale School of Music with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. AfriClassical has followed Dr. Harvey with interest for years. The Bio at RaymondHarvey.net tells us: “With an immediately noticeable style that has been described as 'elegant, but suffused with energy,' Raymond Harvey has garnered critical acclaim on symphonic podiums throughout the United States. Now in his eleventh season as Music Director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Harvey was previously Music Director of the Springfield Symphony in Massachusetts and the Fresno Philharmonic in California.”

Francisco Mignone is considered one of Brazil's three principal composers of classical music in the 20th century, along with Heitor Villa-Lobos and Camargo Guarnieri. The piano soloist is Alexandra Mascolo-David, a Professor at Central Michigan University. She writes in the liner notes:

“For the past 20 years I have centered my research efforts on the piano music of Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone (1897-1986).” “In 2001, after years of surmounting obstacles, I released the compact disc of Mignone's 24 Valsas Brasileiras (Volume 1), and subsequently, in 2007, volume two. Soon after completing the Valsas Brasileiras, I chose to embark on a project of even greater proportions: the recording of Mignone's 4 Fanstasias Brasileiras for piano and orchestra. To do this, in 2007 I applied for and received a Research Excellence Fund Grant from Central Michigan University to record the Fantasias with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Raymond Harvey for the White Pine Music label.”

“In writing the Fantasias, Mignone drew inspiration from the Afro-Brazilian folk tradition and succeeded in combining beautiful African, indigenous, popular, folk, and original melodic formulas with the rhythmic complexity and intensity of drumming.” The recording caught the attention of the classical music staff at WGBH Radio in Boston. The CD features Fantasias Brasileiras Nos. 1-4 (49:01). “Keith's Classical Corner” on WGBH has produced a program which can be heard online on demand: “Alexandra Mascolo-David Plays Mignone's Fantasia No. 4.” Fantasia No. 4 (13:04) is performed in its entirety after a brief introduction.

'Highway to Canaan' by Jo LanYe, D.M.A., is Opera on Underground Railroad From South to Ohio and Canada

[Jo LanYe (Sandusky Register)]

MansfieldNewsJournal.com

Opera tells stories of slaves' courage

April 17, 2011

Written by Kristina Smith Horn

CentralOhio.com

“CATAWBA ISLAND -- Born a slave, Obadiah had long been separated from his parents and had no idea where they were. His life was one of hardship and back-breaking work, with no respect from the man who owned him. The 16-year-old had seen his best friend's mother, also a slave, banished from the farm in Kingsport, Tenn., where they were kept.

“It was then that Obadiah and his best friend, Joshua, decided they would not live out their lives as slaves. The pair and other slaves at the farm planned their escape. The pair would search for Joshua's mother. But on the night they planned to leave, their owner came to Obadiah and told him he needed to cut wood for the family's fire, immediately. Obadiah told the others to go on without him and that he would catch up. After chopping the wood, he ran off, feeling panicked and not knowing which way to head as he entered a forest. He did not know that Livella, a 14-year-old fellow slave, had waited for him. She helped him catch up with the group.

“This is a scene in 'Highway to Canaan,' an opera about the Underground Railroad set in 1851 that J. LanYe, of Catawba Island, wrote.” LanYe is an opera singer, pianist, composer and conductor. She composed her first piece of music at age 5. LanYe has a bachelor's degree in voice from the Cleveland Institute of Music, a master's of voice from the New England Conservatory of Music and a doctorate of musical arts from the American Conservatory of Music, which was in Hammond, Ind., when she was a student.

“She also has taught at Central State and other colleges around the country and boasts plenty of firsts -- first black to receive a doctorate from the American Conservatory of Music, first black to direct a major production at the Youngstown Playhouse and the first black woman to be a director of music at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. To her knowledge, she is the first person to compose an opera about the Underground Railroad and include Canada's role.”

“Although LanYe's opera begins in the South and ends in Canada, much of it is focused on Ohio. She contends Ohio had the most Underground Railroad routes of any place in North America, and that its role in the fight against slavery should be celebrated more. Some routes ended up in Sandusky, where slaves where hidden on boats and taken across Lake Erie to Canada. Part of the opera takes place in Sandusky. 'This was indeed the promised land,' she said.”