Often referred to as the ‘dean of African-American composers’, William Grant Still received many honours for his pioneering music for the concert platform, film and television. Still’s most distinctive works use African-American forms such as the blues, spirituals and jazz within a neo-romantic idiom. He declared that his Fourth Symphony was ‘intended to represent the spirit of the American people’, an idée fixe unifying its four contrasting movements into an appealing whole. His triumphant Fifth Symphony celebrates ‘the sharing of resources and achievements’ which the composer saw as the key to America’s greatness.