Celebrating Black History Month -- with some thoughts on Florence Price --
AND our monthly listing of upcoming concerts and events!
We at WPA are firmly of the opinion that Black composers should be celebrated throughout the year, but we’ll never turn down an opportunity to highlight the tremendous history and future of Black composers. (JUMP to our listing of concerts and events)
Image of Florence B. Price courtesy WQXR
While a re-discovery of Florence Price is often credited to the dramatic find of a large manuscript collection in the attic of an abandoned home outside of Chicago, we need to remember both the continuous performing traditions and also the advocacy and research that took place many years before that. Musicologist Dr. A. Kori Hill has written “To Be Discovered When You Were Never Forgotten: Florence Price and Black Composers in the Mainstream,” describing how the black community celebrated Florence Price as one of their own: “Her music was not forgotten in Black classical music and regional communities.” These communities included individuals, and groups such as the National Association of Negro Musicians which is still an ongoing organization.
While performances of Price’s orchestral works (apparently) did cease after her death, scholars and musicians devoted to the recovery of marginalized voices worked to get that music performed starting in the 1980s : The Women's Philharmonic performed Price’s Dances in the Canebreaks (arr. W.G. Still) and Symphony n. 1 in E minor in the 1980s. Later (in 2001) the TWP went on to make the first commercial recording of any of Price’s orchestral music – Symphony n. 3, and tone poems including The Oak (led by Apo Hsu). In 1994, Leon Botstein, and the American Symphony, always dedicated to exploring works that have dropped off of the path of least resistance, offered a concert "Common Ground: Jazz, African-American and Jewish-American Composers (1930-1955).” While audiences were enthusiastic to such bold programming, critical opinion was often less than kind. The response of the New York Times to Botstein’s concert bordered on mockery. Labelling it a mere “Excercise,” the critic distanced it from artistic values, insisting it was only “addressing …. social and political concerns.” “Taken on its own terms this symphony is not very good…. Ersatz Dvorak,” the critic declares, “the orchestration is feeble. The slow movement uses up its resources long before it ends.”
The notion of Price as a fake Dvořák to me particularly shows pure prejudice. All composers – even those admitted to the hagiographic realms of the traditional canon – depend on the shared language of their predecessors. Think (for instance) of Brahms’ reliance on Beethoven. That is an essential ingredient to creating music that is comprehensible and meaningful to listeners – it can be understood because of its use of and reference to a comprehensible vocabulary and technique. Opinions will always vary, but that critic’s opinion of Price now seems simply rooted in bias. The slow movement of Symphony n. 1 (II. Largo, Maestoso) never fails to stir me with its meditative hymn-like melody, lulling and hypnotic, moving to a rapturous lyricism and warmth in the middle section before the evocative recall of the hymn in the brass, now embroidered with an ornamented filigree in the clarinet, and ending with a poignant cello soliloquy. ( Listen to the Grammy-winning recording by the Philadelphia Orchestra via Spotify).
Although multiple recordings of Price’s music have won Grammys, nay-sayers continue to berate Price’s music. Now they are often skeptical about the rise of interest in Price’s music, which is indeed unprecedented for a classical composer. Price ranks among the top 70 classical composers by number of subscribers (according to this list on Reddit with Price’s 288,075 placing her above Berlioz and J. Strauss). And the recognition is growing: on February 2, Price became the first Black woman to win a Grammy for best classical solo vocal album. The album title – ''Beyond The Years: Unpublished Songs Of Florence Price” – emphasizes that for so long much of Price’s music was unavailable. Pianist Michelle Cann observed “Florence Price should have been able to get – in her time – all the awards, every award. I mean, she was a fantastic composer … We’re now understanding her impact and her genius, and it’s a beautiful thing, but at the same time, it’s bittersweet.” Cann and soprano Karen Slack, the musicians of the CD, were the first to record many of the songs, which is a remarkable occurrence for an award such the Grammy, which in the Classical area often favors re-recordings of canonic “top-40” hits; for instance this year a recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations (aren’t there 9 million recordings of that? ) won the award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. That Price has now received three Grammy’s shows the breadth and magnitude of recognition she is now receiving. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s recording of the three Symphonies won the 2022 Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance, and in 2023, the New York Youth Symphony won Best Orchestral Performance for a recording that included Michelle Cann as the soloist in Price’s Piano Concerto, conducted by Michael Repper.
Of course these recordings were influenced by earlier ones — The Women’s Philharmonic one of 2001, and also the 2011 recording of the Piano Concerto — made when the orchestration had to be reconstruction because all the orchestral materials were believed to be lost.
Similarly, so much research on Price has drawn on the research of musicologist Dr. Rae Linda Brown, as a starting point. Her biography of Price, The Heart of a Woman, was posthumously published by University of Illinois Press in 2020. You can read our review of the book at our website. Brown also publised numeorus articles about Price. Now a new generation of Price scholars use that work as a starting point. For information about Price and her supportive community in Chicago, don’t miss reading Samantha Ege’s new book South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene. Learn more and where to purchase it, here. AND coming soon is The Cambridge Companion to Florence B. Price, Edited by Samantha Ege & Alexandra Kori Hill!!
February Concerts & Events
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will perform Jessie Montgomery’s Five Freedom Songs featuring soprano Julia Bullock on February 27-March 1. From the concert listing: “Jessie Montgomery, in collaboration with soprano Julia Bullock, drew from a 19th-century anthology of spirituals to create a work that articulates a powerful expression of their shared experience as Black Americans.”
The Boston Symphony Orchestra will present Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución diamantina on February 27-March 1. From the BSO Website: “Acclaimed Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, known for her vibrant instrumental colors and skill with dramatic narrative, wrote her ballet score Revolución diamantina with Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza. The piece explores the powerful Mexican feminist “Glitter Revolution” campaign to highlight an epidemic of violence against women.”
The Cleveland Orchestra will include Kaija Saariaho’s Oltra Mar in concert on February 20-22. Also included on the program or works by Sibelius, Ives, and Adès
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is celebrating the work of Jessie Montgomery and Florence Price on February 28 & March 1. Florence Price’s The Oak will be performed alongside Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds.
The National Symphony Orchestra will present Julia Wolfe’s Her Story with the Lorelei Ensemble on February 27 and March 1. The work is an NSO co-commission. From the website: “Julia Wolfe’s large-scale theatrical work captures the passion and perseverance of women across centuries. Written for the Lorelei Ensemble, Her Story dramatizes text from the fight for women’s equality—ranging from a letter written by Abigail Adams and a speech by Sojourner Truth, from public attacks directed at women protesting for the right to vote, to political satire, and more.”
The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform works by Julia Wolfe and Louise Farrenc on February 27-March 1. Wolfe’s Pretty, which is a Philadelphia Orchestra co-commission, will be performed with Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 1.
The Pittsburgh Symphony will present the world premiere of Spin by Hannah Ishizaki on February 21 and 23. The work is also a PSO commission.
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will perform Outi Tarkiainen’s The Ring of Fire and Love on February 21 and 23. From the event listing: “…Tarkianen explores the earth-shattering moment of a child’s birth. ‘The ‘ring of fire’ is a volcanic belt that surrounds the Pacific Ocean,’ says the composer. ‘It also describes what a woman feels as she gives birth. That moment is the most dangerous in the baby’s life. The Ring of Fire and Love is a work for orchestra about this earth-shattering, creative, cataclysmic moment they travel through together.’ Tarkianen is a Finnish composer; she has been having an international career for the last 15 years.
Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate’s opera Tate’s Loksi’ Shaali’ (Shell Shaker), will receive its east coast premiere at Mt. Holyoke College on Feb. 28. The first opera ever to be sung completely in a Native American language (Chicasaw), the story follows the journey of a Chickasaw troubled girl named Loksi’ (Turtle), transforming into a confident young woman and the significance of embracing identity, honoring sacred traditions, and how simple acts of kindness can transform the world. Hear an excerpt here.
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