New York Youth Symphony, Michael Repper & Michelle Cann
Format Details:
Release Date: 08 April 2022
Label: Avie
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 822252250329
Genres: Classical Orchestral
Description
The New York Youth Symphony makes its recording debut with music by Florence Price, Valerie Cole and Jessie Montgomery. With remarkable resilience, the musicians' first studio album brought them together in multiple ways during the COVID pandemic.
In the midst of the COVID pandemic, the remarkably resourceful personnel and musicians of the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS), with Music Director Michael Repper, found a way to come together during a time of separation to make their debut recording. Featuring four works by three African American women composers – Florence Price, Valerie Coleman and Jessie Montgomery – the orchestra's first studio recording includes several premieres. The release coincides with the 115th anniversary of Price's birth.
Two recordings of works by Florence Price are firsts. Ethiopia's Shadow in America is the first recording of the work by an American orchestra. Her Piano Concerto in One Movement, with soloist Michelle Cann, is the premiere recording of the composer's newly-discovered original orchestration. Price's compositional voice blends the African American folk songs and dances of her heritage with the central European Romantic tradition in which she was trained. Her tone poem Ethiopia's Shadow in America evokes the injustices experienced by people of African descent. Her Piano Concerto in One Movement features the exuberant soloist Michelle Cann, a champion of the composer's music, who gave the New York and Philadelphia premieres of the work.
Umoja – meaning "unity" in Swahili – by Grammy-nominated flautist, entrepreneur and composer Valerie Coleman originated as a simple song for women's choir. Its transformation as a work for orchestra – given its first recording here – maintains its feel of a drum circle and sharing of history through a traditional "call and response" form.
In her rich and colourful single-movement symphonic work Soul Force, NYYS alum Jessie Montgomery drew on Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in which he states, "We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"a heartening indication of innocent ears opening to both the undiscovered and the entirely new. They give it their all." – Gramophone
"rich sound and melodic astuteness … a performance that was taut with dramatic tension" - The New York Times (on the New York Youth Symphony)
"confidence and expressive nuance" - Baltimore Sun (on Michael Repper)
"a compelling, striking virtuoso" - Boston Music Intelligencer (on Michelle Cann)
Tracklisting
Christoph Croise; Andrey Baranov; Alexander Panfilov
The Orchestra Now; Leon Botstein
Donald Berman
Lauren Scott
East of the River
Sebastian Bohren, Sergei Bolkhovets, Munchener Kammerorchester
Cantata Collective; Nicholas McGegan
Yoshika Masuda, HyeJin Kim
Eric Guo, Oh! Orchestra, Vaclav Luks
Hyuk Lee (piano), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrzej Boreyko
Anna Gourari, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana & Markus Poschner
Vladimir Delman; Milan RAI Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Schippers; Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della Rai; New York Philharmonic Orchestra; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Liepaja Symphony Orchestra
Johanna Domotor; Meesun Hong Coleman; Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
Josef Krips; Various Orchestras
