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The significance of this four volume recording project is its celebration of twentieth century compositions for piano and some chamber works written by Americans of African descent that have either never been recorded or have had limited recording performance. Dr. Karen Walwyn first began her research on those 20th century composers, who are citizens of the United States of America with African heritage, when she became increasingly aware of the absence of the compositions of these Americans in the standard classical solo piano and chamber repertoire. Despite the significant number of important piano works by the composers, their compositions have rarely been programmed or studied in academic and non-academic arenas. Institutions of higher and secondary education concentrate mostly on the accomplishments in the idioms of Jazz, Soul, and Gospel. The contributions of the American composer of African descent to classical music is rarely addressed, and as a result, their music remains virtually unknown. Of the estimated 300 American composers of African descent listed in Readings in Black American Music: a Biographical Dictionary, few are known by most musicians, and little of their music is heard in concerts or on radio today. Furthermore, recordings of their classical music are difficult to locate because very little of this music is available on albums or compact discs. It is believed that this compilation of works will be vital in addressing the lack of availability of recordings.
This four volume series of music by American composers of African descent contributes to the unveiling of a cultural legacy. This presentation includes a unique historical content and a variety of styles both quoted and extracted from the various traditional idioms of the composers' heritage. The selected works offered are representative of 20th century styles and compositional ideas such as the 12-tone serial techniques of Hale Smith, the multimetric and asymmetrical writings of Adolphus Hailstork, the Neo-Classic style of Roger Dickerson, the polymetric writings of Jeffrey Mumford, the Cuban African traditions of Tania Leon, and the eclectic jazz-influenced style of David Baker. Individually, each of the works is musically intriguing and pianistically demanding. The display of the breadth of artistic styles in these American compositions lends to the necessary integration of this music into the standard classical repertoire and helps facilitate familiarity with this music independent of color, race, or gender.
This volume of music is the first of the four volume series of music that is sponsored in part by the University of Michigan's Office of the Vice President of Research, the Office of the Vice Provost of Academic and Multicultural Affairs, the Rackham Graduate School, the Faculty Research Fund, and the School of Music, it is important to note that although the composers may individually recognize an inclusively mixed heritage, the common heritage among these composers, for the purpose of this CD project, is that of African descent.
KAREN WALWYN
Dr. Karen Walwyn, born in Queens, New York, started piano at the age of four. Her father, Claude Walwyn, her first piano teacher, and her mother, Dorothy Tyler, musically inclined as well, were both very encouraging and influential in her musical development, Walwyn received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Michigan, and both her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music Degrees from The University of Miami (Florida). Her most influential piano teachers have been Ms. Rosalie Gregory, Dr. J.B. Floyd, and Dr. Arthur Greene.
Winner of several compositions, Walwyn has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe as a soloist and also performs with her husband, Rodney Mack (trumpet) as a duo. Walwyn has been a visiting professor at the Conservatorio Privado de Tenerife, Spain. She is currently on the faculty at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK
Dr. Adolphus Hailstork, born in Rochester, New York, in 1941, began piano lessons as a child. Influenced by choral singing, he began composing songs in his early teens. Hailstork received his Doctorate in Composition from Michigan State University; a Master's and Bachelor's in Composition at Manhattan School of Music; and a Bachelor of Music degree in Theory at Howard University. Also, Hailstork studied at the American Institute at Fountainbleau with Nadia Boulanger.
Some of the composer's more celebrated works include: | Celebration, recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Out of the Depths, which won the 1977 Belwin-Mills Max Winkler Award: American Guernica, awarded first prize in a national contest sponsored by the Virginia College Band Directors in 1983; and Mourn Not the Dead which received the 1971 Ernest Bloch Award for choral composition. In 1995 the chamber work Consort Piece was awarded First Prize by the University of Delaware Festival of Contemporary Music.
Some of Hailstork's most impressive larger works are: the triptych Songs of Isaiah, the oratorio Done Made My Vow, and the cantata / Will Lift Up Mine Eyes. Recipient of the Meet-the-Composer/Reader's Digest/National Endowment for the Arts commission in 1990, Hailstork wrote a piano concerto for pianist Leon Bates. A consortium of five orchestras commissioned the work (Virginia, Louisville, Richmond, Rochester, and Phoenix). In 1991, Celebration was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Daniel Barenboim. Most recently, the composer's first venture into opera, Paul Laurence Dunbar: Common Ground (commissioned by the Dayton Opera), received its world premiere in 1995. Hailstork was also commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music to write Festival Music for the Baltimore Symphony conducted under David Zinman. Later, Festival Music was performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Lorin Maazel.
He has held teaching positions at Michigan State University, Youngstown University and Norfolk State University (Virginia), where he is currently Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence. Sonata No. 1
The Sonata No. 1 for Piano, completed in 1980, was dedicated to Natalie Hinderas. The first movement is in sonata-allegro form with a recapitulation that alternates fragments of both themes. The second movement, Scherzo, is sprightly, with a bluesy middle section. The third movement, Nocturne, is quietly meditative, written without meter. The fourth movement, also in sonata-allegro form features the use of the African-American spiritual, Oh Freedom. This is the premiere commercial recording of this work. 'This is, so far, my biggest and boldest piano work. It requires enormous energy from the pianist." — Adolphus Hailstork
LETTIE BECKON ALSTON
Dr. Alston received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Michigan in Composition. She received her Master of Music Degree and her Bachelor of Music Degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
Alston was a finalist in the National Unisys African-American Composer Symposium, Detroit, Michigan. With several premieres, Dr. Alston appeared in Salzburg, Austria,
with Memories in the II Trio della Musica; the Fourth Festival of Women Composers in Pennsylvania, with Three Rhapsodies for Piano; the Extensions of the Tradition IV Concert,
Indiana University Art Museum with Four Moods for Piano; the Pinnacle Music of New England, the Massachusetts premiere of Pulsations; and the Oakland University Wind.
nsemble with Portrait in Black, along with the Integrate Concerto premiered by Alston.
Alston has held a teaching position at Eastern Michigan University, and is presently Associate Professor of Music at Oakland University, Michigan. She currently presents the annual "Lettie Alston and Friends" a Sensory Perceptions Faculty Series at Oakland University.
Three Rhapsodies for Piano.
Alston premiered Three Rhapsodies for Piano at the Unisys African-American Forum Chamber Music Concert, Orchestra Hall, in Detroit, Michigan, 1994. Each Rhapsody is an independent character piece involving a specific technical execution. This is the premiere recording of this work. "I don't want to be looked upon as a Black Composer or a woman composer because I work real hard at sounding like Lettie in my music. My works explore concepts from the soul and reflect my life and environment." — Lettie B. Alston
DOLORES WHITE
Dolores White, composer, pianist, and educator, received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Oberlin College conservatory and a Master of Music degree in piano performance and composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Dolores White is a composer of choral and instrumental music. In 1986, she was a prize winner in the national choral competition: The Ithaca Choral Festival. Several of her arrangements have been published by Ludwig Music Publishing Company and several piano duets by The Boston Music Company.
Ms. White was selected as a finalist in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 1994 Unisys African-American Orchestral Competition for her piece entitled: Celebration. Her orchestral piece with narrator and soprano Give Birth to the Dream, was performed in 1996 by the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra. Several of her choral compositions were performed by the Robert Page/Cleveland singers at Cleveland State University. White is currently on the faculty at Cuyahoga Community College. Toccata
The Toccata is improvisatory in style with great rhythmic, motoric drive. It consists of short expressive fragments that change moods and colors dramatically and constantly. This is the premiere recording of this work. "I like to explore combinations of sounds within different textures. I use humor in my works in different ways which helps to keep my optimistic views." — Dolores White
JEFFREY MUMFORD
Born in Washington, DC in 1955, Jeffrey Mumford was educated at the University of California, San Diego, having received a San Diego Fellowship for graduate studies in composition. Recent notable commissions include those from the National Symphony Orchestra; the Cincinnati Radio Station WGUC; the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra; the Abel/Steinberg/Winant Trio; the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation: the Amphion Foundation for the Da Capo Chamber Players; and violist, Marcus Thompson.
Mumford's works have been played by such organizations as the Minnesota Orchestra: the Aspen Music Festival; the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella Series: in addition, premieres were played by the National Symphony Orchestra, and on the Linton Music Series for WGUC.
Mumford's distinct echoes of glimmering daylight, commissioned by the Roanoke Symphony and Kenneth Fain of Providence, received its world premiere during the Roanoke Symphony's 1995-96 subscription season. His work for solo viola, the clarity of remembered springs, was commissioned by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, and received its world premiere on April 26, 1993 in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.
Some of Mumford's grants and awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Music Center, and ASCAP Foundation Grant, ASCAP Standard Panel Awards, the ASCAP Aaron Copland Scholarship Award, First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival Composition Competition, Meet-the-Composer; and the District of Columbia commission on the Arts in Humanities Award for three years.
Mumford has been featured on several radio interview programs including "Artbeat" (WPPN<Pacifica), "Desert Island Discs" (WETA<National Public Radio), and on the Voice of America's "Concert Hall" program.
Some significant performances of Mumford's works were at the Library of Congress, the Aspen Music Festival, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, London's Purcell Room, and Finland's Helsinki Festival. Fragments from the surrounding evening
Fragments from the surrounding evening, written in 1984, was commissioned by the La Gesse Foundation. This is the premiere commercial recording of this work. 'The work falls roughly into two large sections. The first half consists of a textural crescendo in which the materials are developed in a manner suggesting the collecting of clouds in advance of a thunderstorm. In the consequent section, the materials are dispersed as in a rainfall, and then dissipate as the clouds move away in the distance." This recording is dedicated to the memory of Bruce Anderson. — Jeffrey Mumford
ROGER DICKERSON
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Roger Dickerson's musical quest began as a boy with formal piano lessons. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education at Dillard University and his Master of Music in Composition at Indiana University. Dickerson was a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship in Musical Composition, where he studied at the Akademie fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna, Austria, he was a recipient of such awards as the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Hay Whitney Fellowship, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Peoples Republic of China. Notable commissions are from the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Rockefeller Foundation, the New Orleans Bicentennial Commission, and the Afro-American Pavilion, 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.
Dickerson's honors include a Pulitzer Nomination for his "New Orleans Concerto" (1977), which was featured as a documentary film on PBS; Pulitzer Nomination, "A Musical Service for Louis," (1972); the Kennedy Center Composers' Forum; and the Louis Armstrong Memorial Award.
Other noted works include Orpheus An' His Slide Trombone, Concert Overture, Ten Concert Pieces, String Quartet, Quintet for Wind Instruments, Movement for Trumpet and Piano and Essay for Band.
Previous appointments were at the Institute for Services to Education, Inc., Washington, DC and Xavier University of New Orleans. Dickerson is currently the Music Coordinator at Southern University at New Orleans, Director of the University Choir, and serves as Lecturer in Music at Dillard University. Sonatina
The Sonatina is in three movements, all of which are marked clearly by strong tonal centers. The work is rich in bright colors, serene melodies and is wonderfully spiritual. This is the premiere recording of this work. "I believe that my work is an expression of inner devotion and freedom; an expression that combines love of art with human relationships and the sense of Godly duty. I see my creativity as a release of my spiritual self and all that self reflects from the conscious and unconscious worlds we live in and move through." — Roger Dickerson
HALE SMITH
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1925, Hale Smith began piano study at the age of seven with the encouragement of his parents. During his high school years he played in both concert and jazz groups. His early piano jazz style was influenced by Earl Hines, Arthur ("Art") Tatum, and Theodore ('Teddy") Wilson. He received his Bachelor's of Music and his Master's Degree in composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
During his undergraduate years at college he began to write chamber music and art songs. Smith became the recipient of the first BMI Student Composers Award in 1952 and received the Cleveland Arts Prize in 1973. Smith later settled in New York where he served as music advisor for various music publishing companies including E.B. Marks, the Frank Music Corporation, Sam Fox Music Publishers, and C.F. Peters
Corporation. He was also active as an arranger and/or musical director for such jazz artists as Foreststorn ("Chico") Hamilton, Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Eric Dolphy, Abbey Lincoln, and Ahmad Jamal. He wrote music for films, radio, and television and for the symphony orchestra, chamber ensemble, concert band, chorus, piano and voice.
Smith's best known works are: Contours, Orchestral Set, Rituals and Incanta tions, Innerflexions, the Sonata for Piano and Cello, Anticipations, Introspections and Reflections, Faces of Jazz, and Euocation. Some of his works have been performed with the National Symphony, New York Philharmonic, American Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony and the Detroit Symphony. His teaching career included tenures at C.W. Post College on Long Island, New York, and at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
Evocation
Evocation is a work of lyrical gestures and chordal sonorities. "The entire piece derives from the row exposed in the first stave, and in several places, it has faint but definite rhythmic affinities with jazz phrasing. This doesn't mean that it is supposed to swing, it isn't, but the affinities are there." — Hale Smith
TANIA LEON
Born in Cuba in 1943, and having moved to New York, Tania Leon became the first music director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. In 1969, she went on to found the Dance Theatre's music department, music school, and orchestra. In September 1992, she conducted the Johannesburg Symphony during the Dance Theatre's historic trip to South Africa. The company was the first multi-racial arts group to perform and teach there in modern times. This was the focus of a segment on Leon by Eugenia Zuckerman on CBS's "Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt" in February, 1993.
Leon's first opera Scourge of Hyacinths won the BMW prize for Best Composition of the 1994 Munchener Biennale for New Music Theatre, commissioned by the City of Munich. Other recent commissions include Drummin, commissioned by Miami Light Project, the New World Symphony, Miami Dade Community College, and Arizona State University; Singin' Septa, a song cycle written for the chamber ensemble Continuum; Para Viola y Orquesta, premiered by a consortium of four U.S. orchestras; and Hechizos, commissioned and premiered in 1995 by Frankfurt's Ensemble Modern.
Some of Leon's recent conducting engagements include those with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the National Symphony Orchestra of South Africa, the Beethovenhalle Orchestra of Bonn, Metropolitan Opera, the New World Symphony, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, and the Orquesta Sinfonica de El Salvador.
Leon was appointed Revson Composer Fellow by the New York Philharmonic in 1993, acting as advisor to Music Director Kurt Masur on contemporary music. In 1996, she was appointed the New Music Advisor for the New York Philharmonic. She is also the co-founder and Artistic Advisor of the American Composers Orchestra's annual festival Sonidos de las Americas.
Some awards include: National Endowment for the Arts, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chamber Music America, and the NYU Distinguished Alumni Award-Meet-the-Composer.
Leon has taught at the Hamburg Musikschule, Germany in 1995 and in 1996 was Visiting Lecturer and visiting Professor of Composition at Harvard University and Yale University, respectively, and is currently Professor of Music at Brooklyn College. Ritual
Ritual employs dance rhythms of the Afro-Cuban tradition, mirroring a true ritual in which an initial meditation is gradually transformed into a frenzy by obsessive, mesmerized exploration of a single motive. Ritual marks the twentieth anniversary of my arrival in the United States. The event is some sort of ceremonial process in my inner realm. Writing these sounds at this point in my personal history allowed me to reflect upon the many opportunities, encouragements, and mentors I have had along the way. I have dedicated the piece to Arthur Mitchell and the late Larel Shook who were among the first supporters of my creative dreams." — Tania Leon
Producer: Karen Walwyn
Engineer: David Lau
Assistant Engineer: Matt Hanson
This recording was made on March 27 and July 24, 1997 at The Brookwood Studio, Inc.
1155 Rosewood, Suite A, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.
Photo of Karen Walwyn by David & Peter Smith.
This recording was made possible in part by the generous support of the
University of Michigan's Office of the Vice President of Research; Office of the Vice
Provost of Academic and Multicultural Affairs; Rackham Graduate School; The
School of Music's Faculty Research Fund; and The Dean's Office of the School of
Music.
Publishers
Scores for Dolores White's Toccata, Lettie Beckon Alston's Three Rhapsodies for
Piano, and Jeffrey Mumford's Fragments of a surrounding evening can be obtained
from the composers. Tania Leon's Ritual is published by Southern Music
Publishing Co., Inc. Hale Smith's Evoctaion is published by Peters Edition.
Adolphus Hailstork's Piano Sonata No. 1 is published by MMB Music Company.
Roger Dickerson's Sonatina is published by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc.
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