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From the pen (or computer) of a composer to the written and printed page is only the beginning of a meaningful musical passage. The resulting scores must be heard in order for the journey to be complete. Such is possible only when scores are transmitted to listeners by way of interpreters, roles well assumed on this recording by the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, tenor soloist Everett McCorvey and conductor Julius P. Williams.
The Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, founded in 1946, is based in the industrial city of Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia, which has since reverted to its earlier name of Zlin (now in the Czech Republic). The ensemble is committed to preserving the music of the famous Czechoslovakian composer by the same name (1890-1959) and to composers representing all cultures. The Philharmonic performs works from various periods, including twentieth century compositions (many of which the orchestra has premiered). The Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, in addition to performing regularly in other Czech musical centers and Slovak Republics, has toured throughout Eastern and Western Europe. Here, under the leadership of African-American conductor Julius P. Williams, the ensemble clearly demonstrates efforts at finding for itself a. place on the world class orchestral scene.
WSFA-TV, Montgomery, Alabama, said of its native son Everett McCorvey, "His voice lifts you out of the seat, slams you against the ceiling, and holds you there! A remarkable demonstration of how true talent can galvanize an audience." Recipient of three degrees from the University of Alabama (and further study at Centre Linguistico Sperimentale, Florence, Italy), this brilliant young African-American talent is currently a member of the Performing Artist Faculty of the University of Kentucky and the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, New York. Around his teaching duties, Dr. McCorvey performs an average of 30 to 50 concerts yearly throughout the United States and Europe, as soloist and in duo with his wife, soprano Alicia Helm. He has further distinguished himself in the areas of opera and oratorio.
Native New Yorker Julius P. Williams is the featured conductor on this recording. In recent years, he has conducted the Dallas, New Haven, Savannah, Vermont, Tulsa, Hartford, Oklahoma, and Knoxville Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Amor Artist Chamber Orchestra and the Connecticut Opera Association. On the international front, Williams has guest conducted the Volvodanska Symphony in Serbia, the Dubrovnik Symphony in Croatia, the Brno (Czechoslovakia) State Philharmonic, and the Easterwood Symphony in Spain. During the summer of 1987, Williams was engaged as Artistic Director of Spain's Festival of the Costa Del Sol. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1989, conducting the Symphony Saint Paulia and spends his summers as Artistic Director at the School of Choral Studies, New York State Summer School of the Arts. A national public was introduced to Williams (also in 1989) when he was profiled by Charles Kuralt and Billy Taylor on CBS Sunday Morning.
The focus of this compact disc is the music and the five men who wrote the music. African-American composer Arthur Cunningham (not here represented) said, "Call me what you will; call my music music." African-American composer Hale Smith (also not represented) wrote, "We mustbe a part of the mainstream in this country.. .We don't even have to be called black. When we stand for our bows, that fact will become clear when it should — after the work has made its own impact." The fact that these five composers — with the exception of Burleigh, all contemporary — are of African descent will become clear only when viewing their photographs. The music should already have made an impact.
Adolphus Hailstork • Symphony No. 1 (1988)
Hailstork's Symphony No. 1 was written for a summer music festival in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where the composer conducted the first performance. Scored for a Haydn-sized orchestra (woodwinds in pairs, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings), this twenty-minute "classical" symphony is in the traditional four movements. The first movement (Allegro) is in sonata-allegro form with a new theme being introduced in the development section. The second movement (Lento ma non troppo) is a simple ternary (ABA) design. The scherzo (Allegretto) is a slightly more complex ternary design based on a "buzzing" theme in the strings and woodwinds. The finale (Vivace) begins with the same chords that opened the symphony. It is a rondo form that brings back themes from earlier movements.
Henry "Harry" Thacker Burleigh • The Young Warrior (1915) Text by James Weldon Johnson
Contemporary scholars knew little about Burleigh's composition The Young Warrior (other than the name) prior to 1974. This was the year (Spring 1974, Vol. 2, No. 1) that The Black Perspective ln Music reprintedthree articles on Harry T. Burleigh, the most enlightening of which was one from the Boston Evening Transcript, March 10, 1917. The article indicated that, "Recently, according to reports which have come from across the ocean, his [Burleigh's] song, The Young Warrior, has gained great popularity in Italy as a sort of patriotic anthem of the present war. With orchestration provided by [Riccardo] Zandonai, it has been widely sung in concert." The writer further indicates that Burleigh's songs reflect "a marked facility in the invention of melody, an unusual cleverness in the construction of rich yet clear accompaniment, and a marked power of musical articulation.. .[Evident is] much musicianship and taste." Such are the features of all Burleigh songs, including The Young Warrior, as here exquisitely performed by Everett McCorvey, who discovered the work at the Library of Congress while preparing for his doctorate.
McCorvey informs us that the composition depicts the scene of a young lad ready to go off to war and says goodbye to his grieving mother, it begins with a trumpet call, followed by a military-like accompaniment passage in the strings. One hears a strain of the patriotic song My Country 'Tis of Thee as the work progresses. There follows a melodramatic section, as the young warrior is in the heat of battle. He is wounded and asks his mother not to grieve. The orchestra then returns to its military-like rhythmic accompaniment. A climactic ending is provided as the singer holds an extended high note.
Julius P. Williams • Is It True? • Meditation, from the
Easter Celebration (Cantata) (1993)
Text by Julius P. Williams • Orchestration Assistant: Lee T. McQuillan
The Cantata Easter Celebration was written in early 1993, as part of Williams' residency at Shenandoah University and Conservatory (Winchester, Virginia). There he served as Visiting Associate Professor and Jesse Ball duPont Scholar (academic year 1992-93). The Cantata is scored for orchestra, chorus, gospel choir, tenor, and dancers, and was premiered at Shenandoah, April 11, 1993- The work as a whole is concerned with a variety of beliefs, transcending all religions. Is It True?, movement no. 2, focuses on the many contradictions apparent in the Easter story and Meditation, movement no. 5, is concerned with reflections, urging the listener to think. According to composer Williams, "Harmonies, more triadic in nature, still use chords with added non-functional notes. The shifts in the key centers are used in a much more traditional style, highlighting the use of melody, which has made its way back into concert music and concert halls in the nineties."
Gary Powell Nash • In Memoriam: Sojourner Truth (1992)
Wrote composer Nash, "In order to compose a work dedicated to a Negro historic; figure, it was necessary to incorporate jazz and spiritual musical elements, both of whic originated in Negro American culture ...I created a motive based on the name Sojourne Truth. When one speaks the name Sojourner Truth, a four beat or four note pattern exist: My motive uses this rising and falling four note motive which works as another themati dimension for the piece." Nash further explains that the work is in three sections, beginnin with a slow and religious-like opening, a slightly faster and more aggressive second sectio and a faster and furious closing section (incorporating highly syncopated rhythmic figure; conga drums, and a jazz bebop-like walking bass line). A subtle manner, by way of metri modulation, is the approach of the second and third sections. Mostly dissonant harmonic are employed, based on jazz progressions with a few plagal relationships.
David Nathaniel Baker, Jr. • Kosbro (1973)
Kosbro is the acronym for "Keep On Steppin', Brothers." The composer provides thi following notes:
A one-movement work in three parts, the Introduction begins with a repeated note figun in brass and percussion, later joined by strings and woodwinds, which sets the tempo am mood of the first section. Theme A is a lyrical, singing melody; an interlude follows. A jazz; rhythmic figure sets up a second theme which is quite angular and is based on a twelve-tom row. This theme is fragmented and tossed about. A rhythmic ostinato accompanies ; development of the first two themes. A metric modulation sets up an extended interludt based on a second tone row and new material. The strings engage in a busy virtuostic display while the woodwinds elaborate on previous material and the brass develops the origina rhythmic ostinato. Section II is largely given over to lush contrapuntal string writing basec on the two previously stated rows. Gradually a triplet figure beigins to predominate until i becomes the accompaniment for the B theme, which is based on the two main tone rows This section is an abstracted version of a slow honky-tonk blues, complete with walking bas; line and appropriate percussion accompaniment. Themes A and B combine in a shod development. In Section III the repeated l6th notes from the Introduction abruptly reappeai in a purely rhythmic context sans melody, rows, etc., building to a climax with a cascading figure which brings the composition to a roaring finish.
Adolphus Cunnlngham Hailstork was born in Rochester, New York, 1941. Asa child, he studied piano. He received his post secondary training at Howard University, the Manhattan School of Music, and Michigan State University. Dr. Hailstork's teachers included Mark Fax, David Diamond, Nicholas Flagello, and Nadia Boulanger. 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. His best known works are Celebration, Out of the Depths (for symphonic band), and Mourn Not the Dead (for chorus). Hailstork's musical The Race for Space was performed while he was still enrolled in undergraduate school. Statement, Variations and Fugue (or orchestra was first performed by the Baltimore Symphony three years later. Recipient of numerous commissions, one of the most impressive was a recent Meet-the-Composer/Reader's Digest/National Endowment for the Arts commission to write a piano concerto for pianist Leon Bates and five orchestras (Virginia, Louisville, Richmond, Rochester, and Phoenix).
Henry ("Harry") Thacker Burleigh was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, 1866 and died in Stamford, Connecticut, 1949- Though his formal study of music began late, he early revealed vocal talent. His various work assignments provided exposure to outstanding singers of the day. Encouraged by his mother, he began singing in local churches and synagogues, and at age 26, left for New York City to further his music education. He obtained entrance to the National Conservatory of Music. When composer Antonin Dvorak arrived at the Conservatory (as Director), Burleigh became his student and his friend. Burleigh shared with Dvorak many spirituals and began serving as Dvorak's copyist. He began teaching music privately and singing in Harlem church choirs. In 1894 he became soloist at St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church; in 1900, he began a twenty-five year tenure at wealthy Temple Emanuel. As a soloist (baritone), he toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. He began composing around 1898, initially composing simple songs and ballads. Burleigh's catalogue of works (Ricordi Publication) reached more than 300, including spiritual arrangements for solo voice and choral ensemble, works for violin and/or piano, hymn arrangements, and art songs. He won much critical acclaim as a composer; his use of Negro folk idioms designated him as an early nationalistic composer. Burleigh was a charter member of ASCAP and was elected to its Board of Directors in 1941.
Julius Penson Williams was born in Bronx, New York, 1954. In recent years, he has built a substantial reputation as both a conductor and a composer. Educated at Lehman College (CUNY), Hartt School of Music, and the Aspen School of Music, Williams is a respected educator, having served as Professor, Lecturer/Clinician, Visiting Scholar, and Artist-in-Residence at such schools as Wesleyan, Hartford, and Vermont Universities, and the Shenandoah University and Conservatory (1992-93). In addition to his symphonic compositions, Williams has written in a variety of mediums and genres, including dance, musical theater, opera and movies. His works have been performed by such organizations as the New York Philharmonic, Dallas and Savannah Symphony Orchestras, Connecticut's Nutmeg Ballet, and at the Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Aspen Music Festivals. A film score, entitled What Color is Love, is scheduled to be released in 1994. His composition instructors include Ulysses Kay, Fred Norman, and Coleridge Taylor Perkinson. Williams has been the recipient of several Fellowships and Grants, including those from ASCAP, Astral Foundation, and the Aspen Music Festival (Professional Studies).
Gary Powell Nash was born in Flint, Michigan, 1964. His principal performing instruments were clarinet and tenor saxophone. He received his training at Michigan State and Western Michigan Universities (where he was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Graduate Fellowship), and Aspen School of Music. Nash is currently a Ph.D. candidate (in composition) at Michigan State. His composition instructors include Ramon Zupko, Charles Ruggiero, Jacob Druckman, Bernard Rands, George Tsontakis, and Mark Sullivan. Nash's works have received readings or performances by such ensembles as the Battle Creek (Michigan), Cincinnati, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Chicago Civic Orchestra. April 4, 1992 was declared "Gary Powell Nash Day" in Flint, Michigan by the city's Mayor.
David Nathaniel Baker was born in Indianapolis, Indiana (1931). He is currently Distinguished Professor of Music and Chairman of the Jazz Department at Indiana University School of Music, where he received both the B.Mus. Ed. and M.Mus.Ed. degrees. He has appeared as a performer (trombone and cello) and/or composer with the Boston and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras and the New York Philharmonic, and with such jazz artists as Stan Kenton, Lionel Hampton, Maynard Ferguson, Quincy Jones, and George Russell. He is Co-Conductor and Joint Musical Director of the Smithsonianjazz Masterworks Orchestra. Works have been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Saint Paul and Ohio Chamber Orchestras, Western Arts and Beaux Arts Trios, Audubon Quartet, as well as by such distinguished individuals as Janos Starker, Josef Gingold, Harvey Phillips, and William Warfield. Baker has in his catalogue of works over 2,000 compositions, over 60 books, and more than 150 articles. Well respected for his numerous abilities and many accomplishments, he received Down Beats, Lifetime Achievement Award (1987), a Pulitzer Prize Nomination (1973), a Grammy Award Nomination (1979), the Indiana Governor's Arts Award (1991), and membership on the National Council on the Arts (appointed 1986).
D. Antoinette Handy
Recorded June 7-10, 1993, Zlin, Czech Republic Recording Engineer: Reinhard Geller
Producer: Julius P. Williams, Artistic Director of the African-American Composers Project Assistant Conductor: Robert Burnett
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