Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3

The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Released on 9/24/21 by Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Main artists: Philadelphia Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Genre: Classical
Distinctions: Gramophone: Recording of the Month

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These readings of symphonies by African-American composer Florence Beatrice Price originated as a pandemic-time online digital concert, but Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin promises a full exploration of Price's orchestral output. Such a thing is certainly welcome, for although Price was the first Black woman to have a work performed by a major symphony orchestra, her music has been only sparsely recorded. That "first" was the Symphony No. 1 in E minor heard here, played by the Chicago Symphony under Frederick Stock in 1933, and it is all the more remarkable in that it was Price's first orchestral work of any kind. Her model is Dvořák, with African-American materials sprinkled through the music beyond simply Dvořák's basic pentatonic tunes. These vary in their level of success; the "Juba" movements in each symphony render Black music through a white filter, and Nézet-Séguin can't do much with them. The slow movements, however, are something else again. They have Dvořák's lyrical mood, but they are entirely original in structure, especially that of the Symphony No. 1; Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphians catch some lovely harmonic junctures there, more accurately than the few other groups that have recorded this music. One awaits more of Price from these forces, especially the Symphony No. 4, to these ears, the strongest of Price's symphonic output.

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Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

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Symphony No. 1 in E Minor (Florence Price)

I. Allegro ma non troppo

Philadelphia Orchestra

00:18:11

The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra, MainArtist - Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Conductor, MainArtist - Florence Price, Composer - Dmitriy Lipay, Producer, Mastering Engineer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Alexander Lipay, Mastering Engineer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel