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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