Composer William Grant Still is almost invariably represented on orchestral programs by his Symphony No. 1 ("Afro-American"), but in his day he was championed by Stokowski and Rodzinski among others, and heard his works played by major symphony orchestras. The Fort Smith Symphony in Arkansas under conductor John Jeter has undertaken a complete cycle of Still's orchestral music, and the first thing to be pointed out about it is that this regional small-city ensemble sounds startlingly good. Still's subtle orchestration ...
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Composer William Grant Still is almost invariably represented on orchestral programs by his Symphony No. 1 ("Afro-American"), but in his day he was championed by Stokowski and Rodzinski among others, and heard his works played by major symphony orchestras. The Fort Smith Symphony in Arkansas under conductor John Jeter has undertaken a complete cycle of Still's orchestral music, and the first thing to be pointed out about it is that this regional small-city ensemble sounds startlingly good. Still's subtle orchestration requires clean string and wind sections, and the Fort Smith players suggest an orchestra from a much bigger city. If there's fault to be found it's in the rather empty acoustic of Fort Smith's Best Corporation Performing Arts Center. But check out the gorgeous wind writing in the slow movements of both the Symphony No. 2 in G minor ("Song of a New Race") and Symphony No. 3 ("The Sunday Symphony"), where Still lightly inflects impressionist orchestral writing in an African-American...
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Add this copy of Still: Symphonies Nos. 2 &3/ Wood Note (Naxos: 8.559676 to cart. $30.57, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by NAXOS: 636943967621.
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