[Florence B. Price]
Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works Lists by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. An organ suite by Florence Price was performed yesterday in Minneapolis by a star in the world of the organ, the GRAMMY® winning Paul Jacobs, head of the organ department at the Juilliard School:
By Rob Hubbard
Special to the Pioneer Press
11/13/2011
“How does an instrumentalist reach the peak of his profession at the age of 34? Perhaps that's what some of those who filled every seat Sunday afternoon at Minneapolis' Bethlehem Lutheran Church wanted to know.
“They were there to experience a recital by organist Paul Jacobs, whose resume includes being the youngest department head in the history of New York's prestigious Juilliard School and the winner of the most recent 'Best Instrumental Soloist' Grammy - the first organist to do so. What they discovered was what happens when a tremendous musical imagination meets an over-the-top work ethic. Jacobs is a virtuoso who knows how to balance interpretive insight with bravura showmanship.
"Each piece he played was full of intriguing ideas, be he bringing a fresh take to a tricky and transparent Trio Sonata by J.S. Bach or splicing an Edward Elgar sonata with the composer's familiar 'Pomp and Circumstance.' But he also brought the audience to sound worlds too seldom visited, summoning up the spirit of traditional gospel on a suite by Florence Price and bringing clarity to the dense note clusters in Jeanne Demessieux etudes.”
