Florence Price - the darling of BBC Radio 3

[Alan Howe]

Exactly. In any case at present you can only rush out............and then rush back home and buy the download 

[Jonathan]

Good point Alan!

[terry martyn]

I have been reading through the scores of comments on Price´s work left on YouTube.   And I listened again to the recording of her First. One guy summed up what he thought of the music in one word: Banal.  The torrents of abuse he has received are disturbing and I was tempted to add a comment to the effect that superficially attractive pastiche does not mean that the Emperor really has new clothes. But I would probably be banned from YouTube for such heretical thoughts and forced to recant at the top of a stake.

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, best to keep your head down until the woke wave recedes, but the vitriol the comment attracted does go to show that the promotion of Price's music is nothing to do with its qualities as music, but is rather in furtherance of a political agenda.

[Mark Thomas]

This has just popped into my inbox from Naxos, announcing a new CD of Price's music:

"Florence Price was one of the most versatile and accomplished American musicians of her generation whose unstoppable creativity and earliest successes were set against the backdrop of 1930s economic depression. The Third Symphony expresses aspects of Price's cultural heritage in a symphonic framework. Avoiding direct references to existing folk songs and dances, it creates highly distinctive African spiritual moods and uses the syncopated rhythms of the Juba in its jazzy third movement. This world premiere recording of Ethiopia's Shadow in America traces the American experience of enslaved Africans, while The Mississippi River suite quotes several famous spirituals, capturing the struggles of Black migration across the United States.

"It was a truly amazing experience recording these large-scale orchestral works by Florence Price with the outstanding ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. The musicians did an amazing job bringing Price's vivid scores to life. Her popularity as a concert composer has virtually exploded in recent years due to audiences embracing her unique musical style. The depth of the American experience is depicted in her music like no other composer. I can't wait for music lovers to hear this new release of three very powerful works by the first recognized female African-American concert composer."

"one of the most versatile and accomplished American musicians of her generation" and "The depth of the American experience is depicted in her music like no other composer." Really? What utter delusionary twaddle.

[Alan Howe]

The fact that the word 'amazing' appears twice within the space of a few lines is enough to put me off the CD. Everything mediocre these days is 'amazing'.

[Christopher]

Let's stop saying the same thing over and over here, lest it be misconstrued.  And moderators no need for a last word, resist!

[Alan Howe]

I understand your reasoning, but the problem is that the 'woke brigade' has hijacked the cause of a minor composer, thus inflating her importance out of all proportion. While appreciating her music for what it is, let's not make it into something it isn't.

[Richard Moss]

IIRC, it is a few years since her symphonies 1, 3 & 4 appeared on one CD or another but (still?) no sign of no. 2!  I was hoping it was among those scores in her 'recently' found treasure trove.  I agree she is over-hyped - her music is pleasant, embossed with Negro and Western (i.e. 'cowboy') influences and whilst I enjoy listening to her works, like many 2nd division composers, that is all.

Like everybody else on (in?) this forum I suspect, we all feel race religion, gender etc. does not, of itself, make music good or bad - but merely provides interest in its origin where the circumstances of how it came to be written are significant.

If anyone knows any more about Sym No, 2, please advise!

Cheers

Richard

[Mark Thomas]

I was assuming the Symphony No.2 would be on this CD but, as you say, it's still "lost". One thing of which we can be sure, though, is that if it is ever found in any playable condition we'll all be sure to hear about it.

I take Christopher's point about the dangers of being misconstrued, so for the avoidance of doubt my gripe about the trumpeting of Florence Price is that making an icon of Price will in the long term damage the causes of much better women composers and much better black composers, of whom there are quite a few, both historically and amongst her contemporaries and ours.

[Christopher]

To say something new - I feel that if (as does seem to have happened) her life story brings people to classical music who would otherwise never have come near it, and sets them on journeys of discovery and joy that we still find ourselves on, then that is all to the good.
~Ends~

[terry martyn]

I am really not a fan of hers, but I can´t help thinking that Christopher has a point.

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, I agree that that's a fair positive point, but of course it's not the main reason why her music is currently flavour of the month ... and with that, I've made my final contribution to this thread, I think.

[Alan Howe]

I've just acquired the new Nezet-Séguin CD (Symphonies 1 & 3) - and it's very fine; in fact it shows what can be achieved with this music given a world-class orchestra and fab sonics.

I have therefore adjusted my view of Price's symphonies somewhat. What I still find incongruous are the Juba scherzos after the long, often languorous opening two movements; and even more disappointing are the 5-minute long, dash-for-the-exit finales. They're just too inconsequential (for me).

No: this isn't great music (IMHO). But it is hugely enjoyable, especially in this new DG release.

[John Boyer]

Since we're all abiding by the cease-fire in the Price Kulturkampf, I wonder if it would best to lock this thread, discussing recordings as they appear in the recordings section?  The title of the thread suggests a continuation or resumption of hostilities.  Perhaps Alan's most recent post can be moved to a section devoted to the new recording, this one then being shut down.