HeraldNet.com: Pacifica Chamber Orchestra in William Grant Still's 'Danzas de Panama' Sept. 25, Everett, WA

[William Grant Still: La Guiablesse, Danzas de Panama, Quit Dat Fool'nish, Summerland; Alexa Still, Flute; Berliner Symphoniker; Isaiah Jackson, Conductor; Koch 3-7154-2H1 (1993)]

HeraldNet.com

Everett, Washington

Published: Friday, July 22, 2011

“Pacifica Chamber Orchestra season covers Mozart, Copland, Sibelius

The recently formed Pacifica Chamber Orchestra, led by artistic director Fred Chu, has a new season of five concerts filled with works by Mozart, Sibelius and Copland. The season begins in September. Tickets for each performance are $15 and $10. For more information call 425-743-0255 or go online at http://www.pacificachamberorchestra.org.”

“The new season:

Opening Concert: 3 p.m. Sept. 25, First Presbyterian Church, 2936 Rockefeller Ave., Everett: 'Danzas de Panama,' by William Grant Still; 'Nonet,' by Bohuslav Martinu; 'Decet for Winds, Op. 14,' by George Enescu; 'Suite for strings, Op. 1,' by Carl Nielsen.”

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 Here is the entry on Danzas de Panama:

“Danzas de Panamà, for string quartet (1948). New York: Southern Music, 1953 (#197-31). 32p. 1. Tamborito; 2. Mejorana y sovacón; 3. Punto; 4. Cumbia y congo. After melodies collected by Elisabeth Waldo. Première: 1948/V/21; Los Angeles County Museum; Waldo Latin-American String Quartet. Duration: 15:00. Library: Library of Congress (also photocopy of manuscript, 57p., 48-39735), Lucks (11515).”

Serafin String Quartet: “'Danzas de Panama' demonstrates Still's interest in Caribbean color”

[Serafin String Quartet; Centaur 3050 (2010) (65:52)]

On September 16, 2010 AfriClassical posted: “William Grant Still's 'Danzas de Panama' on CD 'Serafin String Quartet' Centaur 3050 (2010).” The ensemble is comprised of Kate Ransom, violin; Timothy Schwarz, violin; Ana Tsinadze, viola; and Lawrence Stomberg, cello. We explained that William Grant Still was represented on the CD by his composition Danzas de Panama, and we listed the four movements: 1.Tamborito, 2. Mejorana y Socavón, 3. Punto, 4. Cumbia y Congo.

The liner notes open with a section entitled: “Quartet American Style – Postcards from the American Musical Past.” It tells us: “William Grant Still's musical persona amalgamated two traditions – he was determined to devote his talents to the purpose of validating African-inspired music as part of the American cultural mainstream.” The composer was born in Woodville, Mississippi. The notes relate that Still's father died when the child was only a few months old, and that his mother then took him to Little Rock, Arkansas to live.

Renée Silberman writes: “Influences, circumstances and opportunities coupled with a mind receptive to the breadth of musical experience enabled Still to shape a sophisticated individualistic voice. He fused formal academic training with a command of contemporary popular music, 'the blues' in particular. Combined, they gave him the tools for developing his very personal 'racial form of expression.' The language that evolved from Still's quest for artistic self-identification was a means to the larger end of integrating African American idioms into operatic and symphonic compositions. Still never failed to acknowledge the importance of his contact with composers George W. Chadwick and the daring modernist Edgar Varèse; he was well aware, nonetheless, of his own power of innovative composition.

“By 1948, the year Danzas de Panama appeared, Still was legendary as 'the Dean of American Negro Composers,' and at the peak of his career – renowned for fashioning folk idioms into high art forms, inspired largely, though not exclusively, by Negro sources.

“Danzas de Panama demonstrates Still's interest in Caribbean color, embracing African, Spanish and Indian elements. He borrowed melodies gathered by the violinist Elisabeth Waldo and created a work suited either for quartet or string orchestra. Tamborito derives from musical influences African slaves brought to the region. It is joyous and light, with percussive touches and rhythmic insistence shaping its sense of forward momentum. Mejorana y Socavón is a gently-constructed Spanish-Indian style, rather free-form movement conveying sound effects of folk guitars, mejoraneras, and three string violin, the Rabel. Punto, also summons up Latin imagery in its references to two traditional dances, the Zapateo or shoe-tapping portion and the Paseo or Promenade. In the final dance, Cumbia y Congo, Still abandoned himself to the spirit of the African slaves, who themselves found ecstatic release in this most sensuous dance. Traditionally, women danced in the steets with candles held high above their heads, while the men swirled around them. Infectious energy drives the work to its vibrant, vigorous conclusion.”

The works which follow on the recording are Antonín Dvořák's American String Quartet, Op. 96 (25:59); Samuel Barber's String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11 (18:18); and George Gershwin's Lullaby for String Quartet (7:22). The three compositions combine with Danzas de Panama to form a rewardingly coherent program which is true to the promise of the introductory subtitle, “Postcards from the American Musical Past.” The CD is available at http://www.centaurrecords.com [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma is found.]

William Grant Still's 'Danzas de Panama' at Southwest Chamber Music Summer Festival July 10 & 11

[Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still; Denver Oldham, piano; Koch 3 7084 2H1 (1991)]

SWMusic.org

PROGRAM One

Saturday, July 10 & Sunday, July 11

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)

String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 8, No. 2

Allegro con spirito

Adagio

Tempo di Minuetto

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Phantasy Quartet for Oboe & Strings

Thea Musgrave (b. 1928)

Cantilena for Oboe & Strings (U.S. Premiere)

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

Danzas de Panama

Tamborito

Mejorana y Socavon

Punto

Cumbia y Congo

Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904)

String Quartet in F major, Op. 96 “American”

Allegro ma non troppo

Lento

Molto vivace

Vivace ma non troppo

Danzas de Panama by William Grant Still

“When William was only a few months old, his father died and his mother took him to Little Rock, Arkansas, where she taught English in the high school. There his musical education began - with violin lessons from a private teacher, and with later inspiration from the Red Seal operatic recordings bought for him by his stepfather.”

“Music for the native dancers of Panama has been notated so infrequently that it is still unknown to people outside of the country itself. It was Narciso Garay who first called the attention of Elizabeth Waldo to it and she, in turn, interested the American William Grant Still in developing it for concert use. Mr. Still has written, on Panamanian dance themes collected by Miss Waldo, a work which is adaptable to string quartet or string orchestra. Nothing like it was done before in the literature for strings. Mr. Still departed from traditional practices by making an attempt to approximate the sounds of native instruments, giving the music an unusually interesting quality. There is a distinct unity and a touch of Caribbean color in the four dances. The first and last are African in origin, probably brought by the first slaves imported into Panama, while the second and third are of Spanish-Indian derivation. [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma is found.]

Mansfield U. String Chamber Orchestra Performs William Grant Still's 'Danzas de Panama' April 9

[William Grant Still: La Guiablesse, Danzas de Panama, Quit Dat Fool'nish, Summerland; Alexa Still, flute; Berliner Symphoniker; Isaiah Jackson, conductor; Koch 3 7154 2H1 (1993)]

CQServices.com

MU String Chamber Orchestra to Perform April 9 

3/28/2009 9:00:00 AM 

MANSFIELD, PA -— The Mansfield University String Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Sarch, will perform in concert on Thursday, April 9, 7 p.m. in Steadman Theatre. The concert is free and open to the public. The orchestra will perform a program featuring the Danzas de Panama by William Grant Still and Hymn and a Tribute to Vivaldi from Sarch’s Colonial Williamsburg Odyssey. The concert will also feature two concerto movements featuring student soloists from the ensemble.

The MU String Chamber Orchestra (MUSO) is a new ensemble comprised of 12 string players from the Mansfield Music Department. It was founded last fall by Sarch. [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is found.]