Florence Beatrice Price (1887-1953)
Concert Overture No. 1 (1939)
Concert Overture No. 2 (1943)
Songs of the Oak (1943)
The Oak (1943)
Colonial Dance
Suite of Dances
Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen/John Jeter
rec. 2022, Studio der Württembergischen Philharmonie, Reutlingen, Germany
Naxos 8.559920 [61]
John Jeter continues his advocacy of Florence Price with the third disc of her music on Naxos. The others contained bigger works, including the symphonies. This one is devoted to fairly short pieces. As before, Jeter turns in solid performances, and his enthusiasm for Price’s works seems palpable. The orchestra, while not the most virtuosic, plays well, as one has come to expect from German regional ensembles.
My familiarity with Price’s music has been limited to her symphonies and other orchestral works, such as Ethiopia’s Shadow in America and the Piano Concerto in One Movement. I reviewed the latter two. I found much to like in both pieces, especially the Concerto. None of the music on this recording impresses me as much, but there is more than enough here to justify its addition to the growing Price discography.
The programme consists more or less of pairs: two overtures, two tone poems, two dance works. Both Concert Overtures are based on spirituals: No. 1 on Please Don’t Let This Harvest Pass, and No. 2 on the well-known Go Down Moses, Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, and Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit. The Concert Overture No. 1 begins with a trumpet fanfare before the spiritual emerges as a brass chorale. This theme is well integrated in the work, whose orchestration includes memorable passages by the brass and woodwinds. The Concert Overture No. 2 does not seem as successful to me. For one thing, it is longer, and Price’s attempts to switch from one spiritual to another, at times combining them, is not convincing. The spirituals themselves are beautifully orchestrated and long remain in the mind, but the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts.
The most serious pieces here are the tone poems, The Songs of the Oak and The Oak. Sometimes thought of as the same work, they are separate compositions and consist of different material. The Songs of the Oak is the more substantial at over 16 minutes, while The Oak is under 11 minutes. I also found The Songs of the Oak the more original of the two. Its brass chorales and lower strings powerfully depict the mighty oak at times with somber tones. Contrasting the oak theme are lighter passages of birdcalls on the woodwinds, particularly flute and piccolo. Percussion also plays an important role with the heavy strokes of the bass drum and the ringing of chimes. After clarinet and trumpet solos, the work ends quietly, accompanied by distant chimes and repeated chords by the strings that go on for some time, as if the piece does not want to end. Douglas W. Shadle’s booklet note describes this well: “Tolling chimes signaling the inexorability of time close the piece as the oak appears to stand unshaken for eternity.”
The Oak is more derivative; one is conscious of the influence of Wagner and Franck. It begins with deep strings reminiscent of the opening movement of Franck’s Symphony before a Tristan-like passage in the violins takes over. As in the Songs of the Oak, there is impressive writing for the brass including the horns. Woodwinds play a near cousin to Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen and have a few birdcalls similar to those in the other tone poem. The work ends on a minor chord switching to major on the last note, but more abruptly than the ending of Songs of the Oak.
I found the last works on the disc in many ways the most enjoyable. They are totally unpretentious and quite infectious. The Colonial Dance is four minutes of fun in triple time. It is a festive piece, very tuneful, with a middle section for pizzicato strings and chimes. There is good writing for the winds, and the dance ends jubilantly. According to Shadle, the Suite of Dances, orchestrated from Price’s piano original, is “arguably Price’s most well-known work.” That may have been true before the recent revival of her music, but now she has become known for more ambitious compositions, such as the symphonies and piano concerto. This suite of three very brief folk-inspired dances would make a fine encore, as the whole set comes under four minutes in this recording.
Those who collect the Naxos series need not hesitate in adding this volume. I imagine there will be further installments, while other labels are also celebrating Price’s cause. For me, though, none of the works on this disc equals the Piano Concerto in One Movement.
Leslie Wright
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