...forthcoming from Naxos:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8784540--dawson-negro-folk-symphony (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8784540--dawson-negro-folk-symphony)
Sounds rather fun! Shame about the title - I suppose it's a work of its time.
I'm surprised that this symphony has never been discussed here before. I bought an MCA Classics double decker many years ago with Stokowski and the American Symphony Orchestra playing this. Move forward 450 or so CDs in my collection and it's Neeme Järvi with the Detroit SO. It could be interesting to compare these recordings with this new one.
That title is very unfortunate, and I think it should've been changed. Many people don't know this but Dvorak's American string quartet was actually nicknamed 'The Negro' for many years. Of course that had to been changed because it was too offensive.
Well, this symphony was given its title by the composer himself at the time. The liner notes for the Chandos release quote Dawson's own remark written for the world premiere in 1934: 'This symphony is based entirely upon Negro folk-music [...]'.
A comment about the time it was written would be appropriate, though – but the text on the Presto Music site must have been mixed up somehow as it is about another CD altogether, with works by Aaron Jay Kernis.
Yes, i have Jarvi's recording but have not played for a while. I distinctively remember it had a European romantic feel to it.
And William Levi Dawson was black, so I guess he can call it a "Negro" Folk Symphony if he wants to.
Well, that was my thought too, but times change and the 2020s are a very different time from the 1930s. I suppose we have to be sensitive to the culture of "taking offence", but if Naxos are happy to release it under its original title, I'll carry on calling it that. I have the Järvi recording on Chandos and it's years since I played it, but I too remember a thoroughly accessible work with a clear whiff of the USA about it.
Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony (listed with that title) appears occasionally in concerts of American orchestras, often in January in programs connected with ML King Jr commemorations, or in February which is designated "Black History Month." I have listened to the new Fagen/Vienna RO in .m4a format on NLM and found that it offers little to recommend it over Stokowski's classic recording, or even Järvi/Detroit's more modern - but sounding like a sight reading - effort. The companion pieces by Ulysses Kay on Naxos would not be appropriate for discussion in this group but, FWIW, I did not find them particularly attractive.
Thanks, that's all very helpful.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Tuesday 09 June 2020, 17:37
And William Levi Dawson was black, so I guess he can call it a "Negro" Folk Symphony if he wants to.
I think we get hung up about the 'n' word, which was probably used by all races in them olden times. Another example was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor composed and named Twenty-four Negro Melodies for pianoforte.
Quite so. The question, though, is whether it's acceptable now.
All I know is we are on a slippery slope with nicknames like that today.
Sorry to be robust - but I consider all this really silly. No-one to my knowledge has suggested changing the title of Joseph Conrad's novel "The Nigger of the Narcissus", which many might find equally, if not more, offensive. It is what it is. No right thinking person, I hope, would condone racism. Times and customs change and what was acceptable 50 or 100 years ago is often no longer acceptable now (and some of the notions we hold as reasonable now may, in another 100 years, be considered offensive - who can tell?), but we are talking about a work of art which is fixed in time. It is absurd to be offended by such things - get over it!
There is also the "Rapsodie négre" for voice and small ensemble by a young Francis Poulenc (1917).
I'd like to draw a line under this aspect of the thread now, please, lest we slide into controversy. I shall delete or edit any more posts on this aspect of Dawson's Symphony.
And so back to the work itself...
I played in a performance of the Dawson two years ago. It's quite difficult in no small part because of the poor condition of the performance materials. Hand copied, cuts abound. It's a mess. The management was really concerned about using the original - and correct- title. They asked several black players about their feelings. The best response was from a gentleman who said "I'd be offended if you Don't use the real title. Quit pandering to us!" The advertising, promos and concerts went on without any ruckus. Beautiful work that needs a modern edition and more exposure.
Like Wheesht, I bought the MCA recording by Stokowski many decades ago ($1.99), and I do have a soft spot for the symphony. I agree that it will be interesting to compare it with the Jarvi recording. The full symphony can be heard as below:
Jarvi with the Detroit in an official upload at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPhDb3XnXHs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPhDb3XnXHs) (issued on Chandos)
Stokowski with the American SO at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q18yg27GTo0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q18yg27GTo0) (MCA 1963, re-issued on DGG)
I note there is another recording, on Naxos, conducted by Arthur Fagen.
A short, but thoughtful, notice of this work, Fagen's new recording, and Dawson's activity in Tuskegee was broadcast on NPR in the US last Friday (26 Jun 2020); the sound clip and transcript are available here under the title "Someone Finally Remembered William Dawson's 'Negro Folk Symphony'":
https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2020/06/26/883011513/someone-finally-remembered-william-dawsons-negro-folk-symphony
There is also a link to an article "Whatever Happened to William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony?" appearing in The Journal of the Society for American Music (2012). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-society-for-american-music/article/whatever-happened-to-william-dawsons-negro-folk-symphony/AC26FD837CD5DB2EC63B5872C423454D
I've listened to all three recordings, and despite the poorer sound quality I come down firmly in favour of the Stokowski. It's punchy and immediate, whereas the more sophisticated version by Fagen smooths out the symphony's natural edginess. Personally, I find both the newer versions a bit dull.
I'm buying that disk not because of the Dawson, but because of the Kay. Very interesting, exciting music - and not for discussion on this board!
The above cited article "Whatever Happened to William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony?" JASM 6:633-56 (2012) reveals a fascinating moment in the piece's history and its title in a pair of telegrams between Dawson and Leopold Stokowski in early November 1934:
On 2 November 1934, Stokowski sent the following message:
HAVE JUST CONDUCTED NEW VERSION YOUR SYMPHONY IN REHEARSAL AM
VERY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT IT PLEASE WIRE ME TITLE OF SYMPHONY ALSO
TITLES OF EACH OF THREE MOVEMENTS WHAT WOULD YOU THINK OF TITLE
FOR SYMPHONY AFRICAN AMERICAN SYMPHONY OR NEGRO SYMPHONY WISH
TO GIVE IT TITLE THAT WILL EXPLAIN ITSELF TO LISTENER SAME WITH TITLES
OF INDIVIDUAL MOVEMENTS FEEL THAT INDIVIDUAL TITLE SUCH AS ALLEGRO
ADAGIO MEANINGLESS CONGRATULATIONS ON WONDERFUL SYMPHONY
YOUR FRIEND
Leopold Stokowski
Dawson replied from Tuskegee two days later:
Following is information requested about symphony:
TITLE - Negro Folk Symphony.
1st Movement - The Bond of Africa.
2nd Movement - Hope in the Night.
3rd Movement - O Lem-me Shine! [sic]
So had Stokowski not made this inquiry, would the composer have left his work titled simply Symphony No. 1? The article continues:
Much later, in a 1982 interview on National Public Radio, Dawson stated that the programmatic title had already been part of his plan:
"The Detroit Symphony came to Chicago during the World's Fair in '33. . . . And they played the "New World" Symphony of Dvorak and I was there. And this is what the commentator said: "This symphony is based on Indian themes." And I cried and I got up and walked out. That hurt me. 'Course I knew, I know what's in the symphony. And America doesn't know these folk songs. And I said to myself, I said if I'm successful to complete a symphony based on the music of the Negro I'm going to title it Negro Folk Symphony. Can't remove that title."
A live performance of the symphony with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Andre Raphael Smith is now in the download section:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,7869.0.html
Interesting. Thanks, CelesteCadenza.
Dawson's Symphony appears in a Hurwitz video called 'Sequels: After Dvořák's "New World" Symphony', so I bought it. Frankly, I think it's a bit of a rag-bag of tunes - enjoyable enough, but not the great music that Hurwitz implies. Perhaps I'm just feeling grumpy...
You? Grumpy? Surely not .... ::)
FWIW, I don't agree with Hurwitz' over-positive assessment of the work either (although I have warmed to him as I've watched more videos). If anything, it's a suite rather than a symphony, pleasant enough but conventional, even old-fashioned, for its time.
'Pleasant enough' is about right, I think. I kept thinking I liked the orchestration, but that the music itself wasn't up to much.
Yes, I agree. My "soft spot" for Stokowski's recording is of a nostalgic nature, and doesn't entail anything more positive. It's interesting, but I don't think it coheres as a symphony, and I don't share the enthusiasm shown by some critics.
There's been a marked increase in recent months, on BBC Radio 3 at least, of airings of Dawson's Symphony, along with the music of Grace Williams and William Grant Still. Whilst I quite enjoy the works of each of them in their own modest way, IMHO this upsurge in attention has nothing to do with their music's intrinsic quality and much more to do with the BBC's woke awareness, in the wake of recent events, of their ethnicity .
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Saturday 22 August 2020, 08:47
along with the music of Grace Williams
Mark, you probably meant Florence Price, or did you relate to Grace Williams's Welsh ethnicity? ;)
Now that's embarrassing, especially as I'm a quarter Welsh myself! Yes, Florence of course, not Grace. Thanks.
Same thing here in Australia, Mark, and you have said in a most respectful and precise way what I believe to be at least part of the explanation.
Forthcoming: a new recording, coupled with Florence Price's Symphony No.4, featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9526715--florence-price-symphony-no-4-william-dawson-negro-folk-symphony
Seems unnecessary to me!
If you read the earlier comments about the Price/Dawson phenomenon in this thread I think you'll find that nothing more needs to be said.