I once owned a copy of the Negro Folk Symphony by the African American William Dawson (1899-1990) conducted by Leopold Stokowski, an enthusiastic advocate of the composer. I subsequently sold it in Tokyo for a small fortune. This vibrant performance reminded me of the work’s ingenious inspiration and structure: a three-movement work composed in 1934 and re-worked in 1952 which permutates and ultimately sublimates fragments of African American spirituals into a developmental tapestry full of genuine African rhythms and syncopations – and all in a highly listenable conservative idiom.
If you’re expecting “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” or “Were You there?” you’ll be disappointed, as most of them are little-known, although there is the inevitable, fleeting echo of Dvořák’s New World Symphony. The orchestration is vivid and exciting and the most memorable passage for me...
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