Florence Price - Songs of the Oak (John Jeter)

Information

Composer: Florence Price

1. Concert Overture No. 1 "Sinner, Please Don't Let This Harvest Pass"
2. Concert Overture No. 2 (Ending A)
3. The Oak
4. The Oak (Ending B)
5. Colonial Dance (Version for Orchestra)
6. Suite of Dances: I. Allegretto
7. Suite of Dances: II. Allegretto
8. Suite of Dances: III. Allegro molto

Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen

John Jeter, conductor

Date: 2022

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.559920

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Review

This third instalment in Naxos’s survey of Florence Price’s orchestral music presents four major works. The two concert overtures might best be described as fantasias – or ‘ruminations’, as Price scholar Douglas Shadle puts it in his excellent booklet note – on well-known Spirituals. The First (1939) uses ‘Sinner, please don’t let this harvest pass’, while the Second cycles through three tunes: ‘Go down, Moses’, ‘Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen’ and ‘Ev’ry time I feel the Spirit’. There are gorgeous passages in each – listen, for example, at 4'07" in the First, where the woodwinds’ rapturous birdsong ushers in a surge of melodic passion from the strings.

Birdsong plays a key role again in Songs of the Oak (1943), a 16-minute tone poem that shows the composer to be a colourist with a Sibelian ability to conjure powerful aural images of the natural world. And then there’s The Oak, another arboreal-inspired tone poem from the same year, although the two works are quite distinct. Shadle describes The Oak as unfolding ‘in a series of internally anxious, almost Wagnerian, episodes that ultimately end in tragedy’, although I wonder if its highly chromatic language might derive from Franck rather than Wagner (Price was quite an accomplished organist, and surely knew the French composer’s organ works). The Oak was recorded some 20 years ago by Apo Tsu and the Women’s Philharmonic (Koch). Jeter’s account is more polished, and I greatly prefer the alternative quiet ending he opts for. Songs of the Oak receives its premiere recording here.

The programme closes with Colonial Dance and an orchestral version of the piano suite Three Little Negro Dances. The former isn’t so far removed from the world of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances – except for the Trio section, with its delightful alternation of pizzicato and bowed playing in the strings – while the latter is notable for its syncopated, strutting outer movements. All the performances are consistently fine, and the recorded sound is first-rate. This is a major addition to Price’s burgeoning discography, and the pair of oak-themed tone poems in particular reveals a fascinating new facet of this composer’s work.

-- Andrew Farach-Colton, Gramophone

More reviews:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2023/02/price-songs-of-the-oak-naxos/

https://www.wtju.net/florence-price-songs-of-the-oak-solidifies-reputation/

https://www.naxos.com/Review/Detail/?catalogueid=8.559920&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Oak-Concert-Overtures-Nos/dp/B0BG5R1FXK

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Florence Price (April 9, 1887 – June 3, 1953) was an American classical composer. She was educated at the New England Conservatory of Music, and was active in Chicago from 1927 until her death. Price is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra. She composed over 300 works, including four symphonies, four concertos, as well as choral works, art songs, chamber music and music for solo instruments. Price received praise for the blending of western education and African American culture in her music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Price

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John Jeter has been music director of the Fort Smith Symphony since 1997. He received his formal education at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, and Butler University’s Jordan College. Jeter has guest conducted numerous orchestras in the US and Europe. His music education programs for schools reach up to 10,000 students annually. He is also involved in a number of music and wellness projects, and has a long history as a media guest and host. He is the recipient of the Governor’s Award for “Individual Artist of the State of Arkansas”, and the City of Fort Smith Mayor’s Achievement Award.

https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/John_Jeter/31451

https://fortsmithsymphony.org/music-director/

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