Philadelphia Orchestra, conductor Yannick Nezet Seguin - Music Box, the 30th of October 2023

An album released by the Deutsche Grammophon label on the 15^th of September: symphonies by Florence Price and William Dawson, recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nezet Seguin.

This project's purpose is to continue an idea proposed by the Philadelphia Orchestra last year, with the release of the album which comprises Florence Price's first three symphonies: pointing out a neglected repertoire, created by Afro-American creators.

Florence Price's Symphony no. 4 and William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony are on this record.

Symphony no. 4 was written in 1945 by Florence Price who died in 1953. It was never performed while she was still alive, it was later on considered lost, up until 2009, when it was found between books, journals and sheet music in her old holiday home. A first recording of this piece also dates from 2009, and now, there is a reference version recorded with the best present-day American orchestra, the one in Philadelphia. Symphony no. 4 has four parts, keeping the same classic structure as in Florence Price's previous symphonies. The same romantic musical idiom, which also denotes influences from the music used in American films in the first half of the 20^th century, but also elements from the melodic aspect and the structure which come from the black Americans' music. For instance, the third part was named like Symphony no. 1 and 3, Juba, a characteristic dance of the black slaves who came from Congo to Louisiana.

Florence Price's Symphony no. 4, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra and conducted by Yannick Nezet Seguin is a valuable piece, with a luxuriant orchestration and well-thought ideas - a true discovery for America's first half of the 20^th century music.

On the same record is William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony, recorded at a live concert which took place on the 3^rd of February 2023 in Philadelphia.

William Dawson was an Afro-American composer who lived between 1899 and 1990 - he studied music in Chicago and started composing during his childhood. He is known for his many negro spirituals choral arrangements, but also for his only symphony, Negro Folk Symphony, whose first listening was in 1934, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, under Leopold Stokowski's baton. Back then, this debut created a buzz and the piece was sung 18 more months, regularly. Stokowski recorded it 30 years later, in 1963 and then it was completely forgotten. Up until 2020 when it was performed by the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna. What you are going to hear is the fifth interpretation of this piece in history, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nezet Seguin, on the 3^rd of February 2023.

We are looking at a three-part piece whose main goal is to portray a national aspect in the same way in which the European composers founded national schools of composition in the second half of the 19^th century and the first half of the 20^th century. Dawson cites the negro spirituals, creating a romantic piece, spectacular and unique in its own way. The bond of Africa, Hope in the night and O, let me shine are the names of the three parts of William Dawson's Negro Folk.