Florence B. Price's Symphony No. 3 in C Minor To Be Published by Rae Linda Brown

[Rae Linda Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Music, University of Southern California Irvine]

AfriClassical has received an E-mail inquiry from a conductor who is considering a performance of Florence Price's Symphony No. 3 in C Minor and would like to know how to obtain the score and parts. Our friend Suzanne Flandreau is Head Librarian and Archivist at the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago. She tells us the individual “also contacted the CBMR Library reference e-mail. Rae Linda Brown is preparing an edition of the Price Symphony No. 3 (which never was formally in print, although it was recorded by the Women’s Philharmonic). I sent him to her for more information. I hope her edition comes out soon!”

Rae Linda Brown, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Music (Musicology) and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Music, University of Southern California Irvine: “Rae Linda Brown research has focused on American music. She has completed a biography of composer Florence B. Price, The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price (forthcoming University of Illinois Press) and has edited many of Price's scores for performance.” “Price's Symphony in E Minor and the Symphony No. 3 in C Minor will be published in Music in the United States of America (A-R Editions).” [Florence B. Price (1887-1953) is profiled at AfriClassical.com]

Florence B. Price
Symphony No. 3 in C Minor
The Heart of a Woman
The Life and Music of Florence B. Price
Rae Linda Brown, Ph.D.
Classical Music

“Eyes Closed, Listening” Says “The African influence on classical has always fascinated me”

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

Yesterday AfriClassical posted: Eyes Closed, Listening: "I discovered a new composer - Leo Brouwer (1939 -)." We are delighted to post a most gracious and enthusiastic reply on Eyes Closed, Listening: "Today Eyes Closed, Listening made its first online friend: William J. Zick at Africlassical, a fantastic site (and accompanying blog) about 'African heritage in classical music.' Commenting on my previous post about Leo Brouwer, Zick writes: 'Leo Brouwer is one of the best known classical guitarists in the world, with a particularly large number of film scores to his credit among his many compositions. “Cuban Landscape with Rain” is one of my favorite Brouwer works.

“Ooo! This is so cool. The African influence on classical has always fascinated me, since I have a strong background in both jazz and contemporary African choral. The African influence on classical cannot be understated: where would composers like Bernstein if we lacked ideas like call and response, or compound time? And his site delivers the goods: it has biographies and short audio snippets from over fifty African-descended composers, many of which I didn’t know about. Duke Ellington is there, of course, but so is William Grant Still and the eighteenth-century Le Chevalier de Saint-George.

“And, as promised, Zick also has a full bio and complete discography on Le Brouwer. Africlassical is a great site, and it’s clear Zick is both informed and passionate about his field. It’ll be at the top of my list whenever I need to do speculative pop-and-classical research now. Also, in a delicious bit of web serendipity, Zick blogged the Michigan Civil War Blog's coverage of the Grant Park Orchestra’s performance last week of In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy, composed by William Grant Still. I attended that performance! Yay, postmodern everything-is-connected-ism!” Full Post

African Influence on Classical Music
Eyes Closed, Listening
Leo Brouwer
William Grant Still
In Memoriam at Grant Park
Composers of African Descent

Conductor Suggests Comparison of Adulterated Melodies & Original Melodies in Spirituals

[Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke, the composer and musicologist who founded the St. Louis African Chorus.]

Yesterday AfriClassical posted Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke Discusses Source of Spiritual 'Go Down Moses'. We are pleased that an appreciative comment on the post has been made by John McLaughlin Williams, the African American conductor who has a long list of recordings to his credit, notably on the Naxos label. He writes: “It would be great if the professor could post musical examples that show the differences in melodic contour between the received (adulterated) melodies and the original, microtonal ones. We all would find it highly informative.”

Fred Onovwerosuoke
John McLaughlin Williams
African American Conductor
Melodic Contour
Received and Original Melodies

Eyes Closed, Listening: “I discovered a new composer– Leo Brouwer (1939 – ).”

Anything sounds good when accompanied by soft acoustic guitar music
by musicrob July 12, 2008
"As I learned last night at a classical guitar concert, anything sounds good when accompanied by soft acoustic guitar. Most of the stuff played was Renaissance Faire era, nostalgic in that strange way Main Street, U.S.A. is supposed to be. But among all the ye old Gutenberg Bible stuff, I discovered a new composer - Leo Brouwer (1939 -). His works were the highlight of the concert. His Etudes Simples, written around the early seventies, have a strong Nick Drake (think 'One of These Things First') and fusion (think Jaco) influence. They have a haunting, soulful nature that speaks of Bruce Cockburn and Joni Mitchell. No. 1 in particular stands out, with its throbbing, Weather Report-esque bass line.

“William Grant Still and Bernstein are famous for bringing the blues to their classical; Duke Ellington and George Gershwin are famous for bringing the classical to their blues. Maybe Leo Brouwer has brought the folk/fusion to his classical. The guitar ensemble also played Brouwer's Cuban Landscape with Rain. This longer, almost-process-music work imitates the sound of thunderstorms, drizzle, and hail. Like Cloudburst, it succeeded when it broke into an aleatoric section - as the guitarists imitated hail, they slapped their strings loudly and randomly. It worked." [Leo Brouwer, Duke Ellington and William Grant Still are composers of African descent who have written both popular and classical works and are profiled at AfriClassical.com] [The above Leo Brouwer CD is GHA Records 126.025 (1998)]

Blogger Discovers Leo Brouwer
Afro-Cuban Composer
Acoustic Guitar
Cuban Landscape with Rain
William Grant Still
Classical Guitar

Saxophone Quartet Performs Works of Duke Ellington and Scott Joplin

[Duke Ellington: Four Symphonic Works (Black, Brown and Beige; Three Black Kings; New World a-Comin'; Harlem); American Composers Orchestra; Maurice Peress, conductor; Nimbus 2511 (2008)]

Muny Band performs enjoyable concert
July 11, 2008 – 10:39PM
Staff Report

TheTelegraph.com
“ALTON - Under the baton of SIUE's John Bell, the Alton Municipal Band struck it up a notch Thursday night at Riverview Park.” 'The Muny Band departed the grandstand for the second half of the evening and joined the audience to enjoy 'The Four City Saxophones.' These excellent musicians, graduates of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Music Department, played selections honoring Duke Ellington, Scott Joplin and Cliff Brown, whose piece was arranged by SIUE's Brett Stamps. Their mellow, rich and tight harmonies were outstanding as they played selections written for the chamber-jazz Hollywood Saxophone Quartet.” Full Post [The African American composers Duke Ellington and Scott Joplin produced both popular and classical works, and are profiled at AfriClassical.com]

The Four City Saxophones
Chamber Music
SIUE Music Graduates
Duke Ellington
Scott Joplin
African American Composers

Amadeo Roldán, Afro-Cuban Composer Born July 12, 1900

[Centenario Natalicio de Amadeo Roldán (Centennial of Birth of Amadeo Roldán) Cuba Stamp 2000]

Amadeo Roldán was an Afro-Cuban composer, violinist, conductor and professor who is profiled at AfriClassical.com He was born in Paris to Cuban parents on July 12, 1900. Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is Professor of Music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. He has been writing about African heritage in classical music for four decades, and has generously made his research entry on Amadeo Roldán available to this Website. Prof. De Lerma points out that Roldán's full name was Amadeo Roldán y Gardes. He also tells us Roldán was only 5 years old when he began studying the violin. Roldán graduated from the Madrid Conservatory in 1916 after studying music theory and violin. He later took private lessons in composition from Conrado el Campo, according to Prof. De Lerma. The young musician also played the violin on tour in Spain. De Lerma continues: “He moved to Havana in 1919 and became a student of Pedro Sanjuan. In 1924 he became concertmaster of Havana's Orquesta Filarmonica and, following the death of Sanjuan, its conductor.”

Roldán's promotion to conductor of the Orquesta Filarmonica occurred in 1932. Suite de La Rebambaramba (8:56) and Rítmica V (2:42) were recorded on CD by the New World Symphony, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Argo 436 737 2 (1993). In the liner notes Simon Wright appraises Amadeo Roldán's role in the classical music of Cuba: “An enthusiastic conductor and composer, Roldán put 'serious' Cuban music on the map by primarily bringing Afro-Cuban rhythms and sounds to the concert hall. They were the inspiration behind the ballet La Rebambaramba (1827-28), based on a scenario by Alejo Carpentier depicting Havana's low-life on the day of Epiphany in 1830.” This recording has been reissued as Latin American Classics, Eloquence 467603 (2002). The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music says of Roldán: “He was the leading Cuban musical figure of his day; as a composer he was the first to integrate Afro-Cuban elements into European-oriented concert music, and among the first to compose works for percussion only.”

Amadeo Roldan
Afro-Cuban Composer
Composer of Percussion Works
Cuba's Leading Musical Figure
Afro-Cuban Elements in Classical Music
Suite de La Rebambaramba

Pianist Stewart Goodyear Performs at Lanaudière Festival in Joliette, Québec July 12

Le Festival de Lanaudière announces Stewart Goodyear's performance as solo pianist with Aline Kutan, soprano, and the Orchestre du Festival under the direction of Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 8:00 pm at the Amphithéâtre de Joliette in Joliette, Québec. The concert will have birds as its theme. It will include Stravinski's L'Oiseau de feu (Firebird) Suite and Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques (Exotic Birds), among others.

Sally Vallongo, a staff writer for The Toledo Blade, wrote an article on the African Canadian pianist entitled “A Life of Music” for the October 21, 2007 edition of the newspaper. “At age 3, he first noticed piano music and had his major 'Aha!' moment, he said earlier this year. By age 4, Goodyear, a Toronto native, was banging away at a toy piano, playing music by ear. (Linus would have been proud — at least until Charlie Brown’s Beethoven-loving friend realized he was outplayed.)

“Just a year later, the little boy whose mother encouraged his keyboard study was leading her to record stores, buying albums by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Horowitz, and other world-beating pianists. 'There was just an instinct in me,' Goodyear told the public radio station in Rochester, N.Y., last winter. He simply was drawn to the very best performances. And though there was always music in his home, he held out for his first love”.

“After the family purchased a full-size instrument for their prodigy, Goodyear’s mastery of the piano raced along. He took lessons, learned general music as a student at an all-boy Toronto choir school, and generally gained the attention of the international music world. 'Initially, I wanted to be a conductor,' Goodyear said. But by age 14, he was making his first recording — the LeRoy Anderson Concerto and Gershwin’s Second Rhapsody with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and conductor Erich Kunzel.

Stewart Goodyear
African Canadian Pianist
Le Festival de Lanaudière
Joliette, Québec
First recording at 14
Classical Music

136-page Biography “William Grant Still” from University of Illinois Press

The University of Illinois Press announces publication of William Grant Still by Catherine Parsons Smith. Cloth 978-0-252-03322-3; 136 pages; $37.00:

"An accessible introduction to the dean of African American composers

In this compact introduction to the life and work of eminent African American composer William Grant Still (1895-1978), Catherine Parsons Smith tracks the composer's interrelated careers in popular and concert music. Still merged both musical traditions in his work, studying composition with George W. Chadwick at the New England Conservatory, collaborating with Langston Hughes on Troubled Island, and working as a commercial arranger and composer on Broadway and radio during the Harlem Renaissance. Still also played in the pit band for Shuffle Along, served as recording director for the first black-owned record label, Black Swan, and arranged music for artists such as Sophie Tucker, Paul Whiteman, and Artie Shaw."

"'This book will be the standard work on William Grant Still for at least twenty years. Smith provides a brilliant narrative of Still's active career, his cooperation with Carl Van Vechten, and his prestige as an American composer. A useful introduction to Still's life, career, music, and sociological importance.'--Wayne D. Shirley, emeritus senior music specialist, Library of Congress"

"'A superb general reference to the life and career of William Grant Still. Smith does an excellent job of placing the composer within the context of African American life of his day. She is at her best in narrating Still's professional career in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles.'--Josephine Wright, editor of New Perspectives on Music: Essays in Honor of Eileen Southern"

"Catherine Parsons Smith is a professor emerita of music at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is the author of Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular and William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions." Full Post

Comment: SESA “has never performed a composition by Chevalier de Saint-George”

[Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges Violin Concertos, Op. 5, Nos. 1 & 2; Op. 3, No. 1; Op. 8, No. 9; Bernard Thomas Chamber Orchestra; Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Violin; Arion 68093 (1990)]

John Malveaux has made this comment at The Hutchinson L.A. Report on July 10, 2008:
“I have served on the Board of the Southeast Symphony Orchestra and continuously challenged the President and Conductor to program more music by composers of African descent. The orchestra has never performed a composition by Chevalier de Saint George and should not use his picture in connection with the 60 anniversary concert blog. Nevertheless, I congratulate SESA for 60 years and hope they will learn and perform more of our African Heritage in Classical Music.” [The Afro-French composer, violinist and conductor Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) is profiled at AfriClassical.com]

Southeast Symphony Orchestra
Board Member
Orchestra Repertoire
African Heritage in Classical Music
Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Composers of African Descent

“The Southeast Symphony Orchestra’s Message Is Simple: The Classical Music Experience is Our Experience Too”

[Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Sonata for Violin and Pianoforte in A Major, Op. 11; Stéphanie-Marie Degand, Violin; Aline Zylberajch, Pianoforte; Orchestre du Parlement de Music; Martin Gester, Conductor; Assai M10 (2004)]

The Hutchinson L.A. Report
Monday, July 7, 2008
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
“Despite what some mistakenly think, classical music is our experience too. That’s the black experience. For six decades, the Southeast Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles has had this ambitious goal: to nourish the classical music experience among African-Americans, provide a venue for artists and musicians to play and for audiences to learn and enjoy classical music, as well as to train the next generation of young African-American classical musicians. The orchestra under the direction of nationally renowned musicologist, conductor and concert artist maestro Charles Dickerson will hold its 60th anniversary season closing concert on Sunday, July 20 at 3:00 PM at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with a powerhouse afternoon of American classical music gems. They include Gershwin’s American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess. The program will feature some of Los Angeles’s renowned black virtuoso performers.”

“African-American Heritage in Classical Music (AfriClassical.com) lists 52 composers, conductors and instrumental performers - Africans, African Americans and Afro-Europeans spanning five centuries. These artists are unknown to most of us, yet are so numerous the web site can present only a fraction of them. They have made enduring contributions to classical music. Several have composed, conducted and performed classical music. Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) of Guadeloupe is one of those multi-talented musicians.”

“Dickerson, and the dedicated board members and core of loyal patrons of the Southeast Symphony, have labored in the shadows for years to fund and sustain the orchestra and its community outreach programs.” “The July 20th gala concert is the way to help them. But this is more than a concert. It’s a statement that African-Americans have been and will continue to be in the pantheon of the classical music world.” Full Post

Southeast Symphony Orchestra
Classical Music Is Black Experience Too
Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Walt Disney Concert Hall
July 20 3 PM
African Heritage in Classical Music