Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from Naxos:
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.

[Wheesht]

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.

[Kevin]

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.

[Wheesht]

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.

[Joachim Raff]

Yes, i have Jarvi's recording but have not played for a while. I distinctively remember it had a European romantic feel to it. 

[Gareth Vaughan]

And William Levi Dawson was black, so I guess he can call it a "Negro" Folk Symphony if he wants to.

[Mark Thomas]

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.

[CelesteCadenza]

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.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, that's all very helpful.

[Joachim Raff]

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.

[Alan Howe]

Quite so. The question, though, is whether it's acceptable now.

[Kevin]

All I know is we are on a slippery slope with nicknames like that today.

[Gareth Vaughan]

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!

[alberto]

There is also the "Rapsodie négre" for voice and small ensemble by a young Francis Poulenc (1917).

[Mark Thomas]

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.