Kaleidoscope
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Reviews: Performance and CD:
"A mother-and-son team who give this music everything they've got...The
recording is a worthwhile one." American Record Guide
* "Both Walker and Walker-Hill are very accomplished musicians and
their performances here are very convincing...The high technical proficiency
of the musicians and of the CD itself sets a standard matched by few other recordings
of this type." American Music. * Repertoire:
"The variety of styles found on this disc ranges from neo-classicism
(Smith) to rhapsodic (Bonds) to somewhat avant-garde (Alston). It deserves a
place in collections on two accounts: the historical value of the subject and
the high musical value of the selections it presents." Jocelyn Mackey,
Pan Pipes of Sigma Alpha Iota. * "Good
music that has been overlooked and underrepresented in the traditional repertory."
Notes (Journal of the Music Library Association)
* "Harmonically, the works are in tonal, atonal, and twelve-tone
idioms, and stylistically, the listener is treated to jazz-influenced music,
a programmatic piece, two works based on spirituals, and abstract music. Notable
is that only six of the fourteen works contain overt references to African American
idioms or content. This point speaks directly to the freedom with which these
composers have chosen to express themselves...Like the solo violin works, the
piano music is impressive...Kaleidoscope is a welcome addition to the
relatively small number of recordings of music by African American composers.
Its primary significance, however, is that it speaks strongly to the diversity
of the African American concert tradition and to the contribution of black women
composers throughout the century." American Music.
* "I enjoyed this CD from beginning to end! It provides a
wide and dazzling array of styles, from lush romanticism to pulsing atonal.
The first work, Irene Britton Smith's 1947 Sonata, bowled me over with
its haunting lyricism. Negro Dance by Nora Douglas Holt is a wonderful
piece of classical ragtime composition that rivals anything I've heard by Joplin.
(Holt was the first black in U.S. history to receive a master's degree in music.)
Sadly, it is the only piece that survived out of some 200 works which were stolen
from storage, and only because it had been published in her short-lived journal
Music and Poetry (1921.) Margaret Bond's Troubled Water is
a concert piece incorporating jazz idioms, based on the spiritual "Wade
in the Water." Florence Smith Price's Fantasie Negré (1929),
inspired by the spiritual "Sinner, Please Don't Let This Harvest Pass"
is dedicated to Bonds, and is an ambitious work combining African-American melodic
and rhythmic idoms with classical European forms. The works are wonderfully
performed by Helen Walker-Hill and her son, Gregory Walker, who have been performing
as the Walker Duo since 1983." Gerri Gribi. (Gerri
Gribi runs the African-American History and Heritage website http://www.creativefolk.com/blackhistory,
soon to be called http://www.AfroAmericanHeritage.com, and teaches at The University
Of Wisconsin.)
Recording: Recording and post production by Marnie
Hall. Recorded in Marshall Auditorium at Haverford College, December, 1993 and
March, 1994. DDD. Support: This recording was supported
in part by public funds from The National Endowment for the Arts and The New
York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Additional funding was provided
by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and The University of Colorado at Denver.
Music Publishers: Britton Smith, Eubanks: Vivace Press
(800) 543-5429). Rudd Moore: American Composers Alliance (212) 362-8900. Perry,
King, Bonds, Price, U. Smith Moore, McLin, Baiocchi: Hildegard Publishing, distributed
by Theodore Presser. Jackson King See bettyjacksonking website.Bonds: Sam Fox
Music Publishing. Capers: Oxford University Press. For information about music
for Alston or White, contact Leonarda. Cover Art: Painting,
"Sengalese Woman," by Malkia Roberts, © Malkia Roberts, 1972.
Graphic Design: Marnie Hall. © Leonarda Productions,
Inc., 1995. All rights reserved. Made in U.S.A.
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music by Afro-American, African-American women composers,
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