My Dream: Art Songs and Spirituals by Florence Price
2013; Routledge; Volume: 69; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Music History and Culture
ResumoDream: Art Songs and Spirituals by Florence Price. Richard Heard, tenor; Roy L. Belfield Jr., piano. (Percentage Records; 36:15)Four Encore Songs: Tobacco, Flea and a Fly, Come, Come Said Tom's Father, Song of the Open Road. Sunset, Dawn's Awakening, An April Day, My Dream, Out of the South Blew a Wind, Song to the Dark Virgin, To Little Son, Go Down, Moses, Feet o' Jesus, I'm Working on my Building, My Little Soul's Goin' to Shine, Weary Traveler, You Won't Find a Man like Jesus, I'm Goin' to Lay Down my Heavy Load.Florence Price (1887-1953) was the first African American woman to be generally recognized as a symphonic composer. A native of Arkansas and a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, she was a highly regarded music teacher in Little Rock until escalating racial tensions compelled her and her attorney husband to relocate to Chicago in 1927. She was able to build a busy and satisfying life of teaching, performance, and composition while also continuing her own musical education. Price's most exciting breakthrough came when her Symphony in E Minor earned her a Wannamaker Foundation Award and the opportunity to have the work performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. She was well known for her art songs and arrangements of spirituals, several of which were championed by contralto Marian Anderson, and that influence carried over into the many works she wrote for orchestra. Although she was never regarded as a first-rank composer even at the height of her fame, her reputation was such that the great conductor John Barbirolli commissioned from her a work for string orchestra, which she eventually adapted for string quartet as her Negro Folksongs in Counterpoint. When one listens to the aforementioned Symphony in E Minor (a recording on the Albany label was released in 2011), one hears an assured if not particularly distinct musical voice and a vigorous optimism that makes her music immediately accessible and enjoyable, if not especially memorable. Much the same can be said about her vocal pieces, which nevertheless demonstrate her solid instincts for vocal writing.Tenor Richard Heard, a music professor at Wake Forest University, has gathered together eighteen of Price's art songs and spirituals, and his affection for them is clearly evident in these heartfelt performances. Heard's voice is brilliant and solidly anchored, although there is a problem with nasality in a couple of tracks. There are also several tracks (including the first) in which Heard seems to have been recorded a bit more distantly than in the rest, and there is an odd metallic quality to the sound. Most of the tracks, however, allow us to hear his voice in all its distinctive beauty. Roy L. Belfield, Jr. …
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