Conductor(s): Fagen, Arthur
Label: Naxos
Series: American Classics
Genre: Orchestral
Period: 20th Century
Catalogue No: 8.559870
Barcode: 636943987025
Release Date: 06/2020

DAWSON, W.L.: Negro Folk Symphony / KAY, U.: Fantasy Variations / Umbrian Scene (ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, Fagen)

William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony was premiered by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934 to huge enthusiasm. Its traditional form houses a continuous process of variation and introduces little-known spirituals in fragmentary form, while the work’s recurring motifs, remarkable transitions and syncopations are enhanced in Dawson’s 1952 revision heard here. The Fantasy Variations by composer and teacher Ulysses Kay employs dissonance with great expressivity in a work of textural and coloristic variety. Umbrian Scene, despite its pictorial suggestion, is lean and sombre.

Tracklist

Dawson, William Levi
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)
1I. The Bond of Africa12:04
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)
2II. Hope in the Night12:38
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)
3III. O, Le' Me Shine, Shine Like a Morning Star!08:13
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)
Kay, Ulysses
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)
4Fantasy Variations17:53
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)
5Umbrian Scene13:37
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Fagen, Arthur (Conductor)

Total Playing Time: 01:04:25