African American Voices
William Levi Dawson (1899-1990)
Negro Folk Symphony (1932-1934 rev. 1952)
George Walker (1922-2018)
Lyric for strings (1946 rev. 1990)
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
Symphony No.1 ‘Afro-American’ (1931)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Kellen Gray
rec. 2022, Scotland’s Studio, Glasgow, UK
LINN RECORDS CKD699 [61]
I was looking forward to this CD a lot. Significant but attractive repertoire performed by a top-notch orchestra under their assistant conductor well-versed in the repertoire produced by a company known for high quality recordings. Sadly the result is instead something of a disappointing and slightly mystifying damp squib. For sure the orchestra play well and with the precision I would expect, conductor Kellen Gray does nothing untoward and the engineering is OK if not demonstration class. However, the combination of all those elements being no more than acceptable makes for a distinctly average result.
Both William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony and William Grant Still’s Symphony No.1 ‘Afro-American’ are well-known and hold their places high in the history of evolution of major orchestral works by Afro-American composers. Gayle Murchison contributes a good liner note to this LINN Records release where she outlines the significance of these works as well as their musical roots. Both works have received several recordings – the Still more than the Dawson. A quick look at Discogs suggests six previous versions of the Still – in various incarnations - and three for the Dawson. Surprisingly, given the significance of these works, this appears to be the first time they have been coupled together – their duration, similarities and attractiveness would suggest this as both logical and indeed sensible. The symphonies represent different paths trodden by their respective composers from similar musical and social roots. Both were born in the Southern States of America and both sought to give stature and legitimacy to their cultural heritage by incorporating the aesthetics and style of Black vernacular music into works of nominally traditional Classical form. Ultimately, Dawson moved into the field of education and choral arranging which means that his 1934 Symphony remains his major contribution to orchestral music. Still, by contrast, composed extensively his entire life with a catalogue including 5 symphonies, 4 ballets, 9 operas and more than 30 choral works. The convenience and interest for the listener with this disc is the ability to instantly compare and contrast the two works.
Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony has fairly grand aspirations. In three movements it runs to almost exactly half an hour and – to quote Murchison – seeks to “construct a history of African Americans”. So each individual movement not only incorporates themes, rhythms and styles of Afro-American heritage, but also seeks to give a musical narrative to each movement. Hence the three movements are given the titles; The Bond of Africa, Hope in the Night, O, Le’ me Shine, Shine Like a Morning Star! I last reviewed this work in July 2020 when a performance from Arthur Fagen on Naxos appeared. Musically Fagen is quite similar to Gray except for the central slow movement with Fagen nearly two minutes slower – to brooding good effect I find. My issue with this entire new disc is that Gray fails to inject dynamism into the either the music or the performances. This is not simply a crude question of speed or dynamics – Jarvi’s Detroit version on Chandos epitomises his exciting but ultimately rather simplistic take on this work by emphasising exactly those characteristics.
Part of the problem seems to be the production and engineering choices made by the LINN team. The recording venue is Scotland’s Studio in Glasgow which appears to be a dedicated/flexible recording studio. The LINN engineers have chosen what seems to be a slightly distanced natural acoustic which relies on careful instrumental balancing either from the podium or the mixing desk. Within bars of the opening track I was aware that I needed to turn the volume up on my amplifier several notches louder than I would usually expect. Even then the sound as recorded lacked the bite and weight that I would expect to hear. Likewise quite a lot of inner instrumental detail – harp and percussion for example – often seem all but lost in the mix. Additionally, the banjo part – not exactly vital but certainly enjoyable to hear – is barely audible. The liner lists the orchestral personnel but curiously this implies there were five flute, four oboes, six clarinets, eight horns(!) and seven percussion amongst other expanded sections. Certainly none of these recordings sound a fraction that opulent or luxurious so I can only think that these players were present for the different sessions and/or works. But whoever was ‘on’ on a given day the adrenalin seems to have been running pretty consistently low. As I made clear in my 2020 review, I think the Negro Folk Symphony is a powerful and impressive work but this sounds like little more than a dutiful and well-played run through.
Given Neeme Jarvi’s penchant for blazing through scores his version of Still’s Symphony No.1 ‘Afro-American’ also from Detroit is more measured – in a good way. Interestingly Jarvi’s timings and those by John Jeter on his 2005 Naxos recording from Fort Smith are very close to Gray for each of the four movements. Still also gives his movements extra-musical titles. Here; Longing, Sorrow, Humor, Aspiration which seem both appropriate and well-chosen. Overall, the performance of the Still is more effective here than the Dawson and while well-played, hard to hear it displacing Jarvi. As compositions, the Still does emerge as the better balanced, more impressive work with the vernacular elements whether melodic, harmonic or rhythmic integrated more convincingly into the structure. Jeter’s performance on Naxos is sympathetic and well-paced but bluntly put the Forth Smith orchestra are not as polished an ensemble as either Jarvi’s Detroit or Gray’s Scottish players. For a good example of the difference in the sheer pizzazz on offer compare the third movement Humor in the various recordings. This has a theme strikingly – if passingly – similar to I got rhythm. The movement is short – around 3:15 across the three versions. Jarvi gets a real curtain-up brio to the playing with tight rhythms and clipped brass and a banjo driving the tempo with super-short 2 and 4 beat chords. Gray, only four seconds slower than Jarvi, just cannot get his orchestra to sparkle. Jarvi’s version is nearly thirty years old now but as a technical recording let alone a performance this far outstrips Gray. The closing Aspiration is another impressive movement with a kind of restrained dignity that is genuinely moving. Again the depth of tone and sonority Jarvi achieves allied to emotional intensity places it far above Gray. Jeter’s performance still lags behind on purely executional terms and a rather resonant recording that blurs a lot of detail. The work ends with a two minute upbeat coda that throws off the seriousness that precedes it. Again the RSNO playing is neat and articulate but the music does not have a sense of joyful release and celebration it surely should especially when Still brings back the main “aspiration” theme in the closing bars – with Jarvi there is an undoubted sense of arrival and resolution. Normally when comparing new and existing recordings there is a sense of nip-and-tuck with one version offering insights and options over the other and vice versa. Here, to my ears at least, this new recording is simply not as good as the earlier one in any respect.
Sandwiched between the two symphonies is a work I had not previously heard. This is George Walker’s brief [5:22] single movement Lyric for Strings. Walker was just twenty four when he completed this work. Originally conceived as the second/slow movement of his first string quartet Walker expanded it into this stand-alone string orchestra piece dedicated to his grandmother who died shortly before he wrote the quartet having grown up enslaved. In the liner Murchison makes considerable claims; “[Walker] developed a post-1945 modernist style that combines chromaticism, dissonance, 12-tone and serial technique and counterpoint with blues melody, jazz ostinato and the spirituals.” I can only assume this applies across the body of Walker’s output and not specifically to this attractive but modest work. Looking at Walker’s numerous awards and significant discography that would seem to be the case. In isolation this work sounds quite similar to Gershwin’s Lullaby for strings with warm harmonies and a certain ‘blue’ feel to the melodic outlines. I do not know other versions to compare this performance (Naxos have recorded it in its string quartet form and there seems to be an old LP performance on CBS) but again this Gray/RSNO recording seems too diffuse both technically and emotionally. The string writing is certainly effective and the harmonies attractive but here it lacks weight – both in terms of tone and musically. You can imagine a Leonard Bernstein wringing every drop of angst out of the piece. Here Gray is very decorous and correct but stubbornly unmemorable.
So a disc that looks tantalising and attractive on paper simply fails to take wing – I am genuinely surprised and disappointed.
Nick Barnard
Published: November 10, 2022
