Aaron says that less than “1% of music performed by North American orchestras was composed by blacks or latinos, despite a rich repertoire.” The 41 Composers of African Descent who are featured at AfriClassical.com represent a tiny fraction of the thousands of composers of color who have enriched the classical repertoire over the centuries. Why do North American orchestras program so few of the distinguished compositions of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Adolphus Hailstork, Florence B. Price, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, William Grant Still and George Walker, to name just a few whose works are readily available?
[Richard C. Alston, Pianist]
The Vector, the student newspaper of the New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJITVector.com
Posted on 16 February 2010
Mike Lowry
Editor-in-Chief
Frank Minichini
Staff Writer
“Wednesday February 3rd in the Jim Wise Theatre, Essex County College professor and Julliard School of Music graduate Richard Alston performed a piano concert featuring classical music by composers of African descent. The concert, according to Alston, was 'A labor of love' and a tribute to the contributions people of color have made to the classical music genre throughout history. 'I stand on their shoulders,' he said before the concert began, 'if it wasn’t for what they went through, I wouldn’t be performing here today.'
“The entire theater was packed with students, professors, faculty, staff, deans, and administrators eager for something unique and compelling. In a little over an hour, Alston performed pieces from a wide range of artists including Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de St. Georges, Scott Joplin, R. Nathaniel Dett, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, and George Walker. In fact, for almost all of the songs, Alston played without the aid of a score. When asked, he admitted that in fact the entire repertoire was committed to memory, and the only reason he had the score at all for some selections was because he had only recently memorized them.
“The most important things that Alston hoped his audience learned from the composers he highlighted was 'The fact that they exist, and that they’ve existed for a long time.' He also added that 'Music is an international language,' and 'Everybody—any race of people—can write anything, and write it well.'” “Alston was passionate about his connection to other composers and musicians of his own heritage. 'When you play a part of music, you are becoming part of something that was created by somebody, and there is, I feel, a spiritual connection.' He continued to say that 'Music is beyond this,' meaning that the nature of music transcends the boundaries of the physical world and touches something deeper." [Margaret Bonds, R. Nathaniel Dett, Scott Joplin, Florence B. Price, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges and George Walker are profiled at AfriClassical.com]
Comment by email
Richard, Wonderful, wonderful and congratulations! Yes, Richard. To know that the works of these artists exist and the compositions are of great merit is important. Kudos to you for your insight and determination. -- Gwen Moten
“Over 50 years the orchestra has commissioned more than 400 works from composers including Georges Auric, Leo Brouwer, William Bolcom, Alan Hovhaness, Colin McPhee, Krzysztof Penderecki, Joaquin Rogrigo, Ned Rorem and the black Nigerian composer Samuel Ekpe Akpabot. Point Counterpoint II features in the documentary film My Architect made by Nathaniel Kahn, the architect's illegitimate son.” [Full Post]
American Virtuosa: Tribute to Maud Powell, was recorded by Rachel Barton Pine, violin, and Matthew Hagle, piano, on Cedille Records 90000 097. The CD is a June 2007 release which includes two works by Black composers: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Deep River, Op. 59, No. 10; and J. Rosamond Johnson's Nobody Knows the Trouble I See. Both works were arranged by violinist Maud Powell (1867-1920), who first recorded them.
The Rachel Barton Pine recording is one of the CDs, containing more than 800 recorded works, by 140 Black Composers, found at “Classical Music Recordings of Black Composers: A Comprehensive Reference Guide to Recorded Works Available on Compact Disc”, compiled by D. Richard Greene, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Temple University. This unique resource has been a labor of love of the author for many years. It came to my attention a decade ago, and has been prominently linked from the Composers of African Descent section of AfriClassical.com since the website's early days.
Most websites on Black Classical Music focus on a limited number of Black composers and musicians. Prof. Greene operates one of the few open-ended Internet resources on the subject. His website classifies recordings by year of release from 2001 to 2007, and classifies the remainder as pre-2001. The 2007 file includes works of 14 Black composers, from Henry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) to George Theophilus Walker (b. 1922). The Reference Guide is updated quite often, and should be visited frequently by anyone who wishes to know what recordings are available.
Catalog numbers and cover art help make the resource useful and interesting. A "Selected Bibliography", "Historical Recordings of Note" and "Web Links" offer a great deal of additional information. A particularly valuable research project is: “An Overview of Black Composers and U.S. Symphony Orchestra Repertoire”. The author says “...a special report analyzes their inclusion in orchestra concerts from 1842-1970 and 2001-2006.”
