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George Walker: Orchestral Works
George Walker, Edwin London, Cleveland Chamber Symphony
George Walker: Orchestral Works
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (17) - Disc #1

Although George Walker was the first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music (for his Whitman-inspired cantata Lilacs in 1996), his compositions are not nearly as well known as they deserve to be. This rele...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: George Walker, Edwin London, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Gregory Walker, Gregroy Walker, Eileen Moore
Title: George Walker: Orchestral Works
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Albany Records
Release Date: 2/3/1998
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Forms & Genres, Concertos, Instruments, Strings, Symphonies
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 034061027027

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Although George Walker was the first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music (for his Whitman-inspired cantata Lilacs in 1996), his compositions are not nearly as well known as they deserve to be. This release of orchestral selections--much like the 1994 compilation Portrait--offers an inviting entrée into Walker's musical world. It includes the piece that marked the composer's debut in 1946, Lyric for Strings, along with examples of more recent projects, such as the tone poem-cum-narrator Orpheus from 1994. Walker's music is often a rich amalgam of formal design with disparate elements--folk idioms, serial techniques, jazz rhythms, unusual collages of timbre--that are fused into a highly personalized, questing voice. Lyric, with its hint of Samuel Barber, seems to announce a gently guarded elegiac quality that recurs in various guises within subsequent compositions, such as the lovely Poème for Violin and Orchestra. Orpheus draws on one of music's central myths for a tautly constructed musical narrative adorned by Walker's imaginatively fluent orchestration. An excellent example of Walker's modus operandi can be found in the Folk Songs for Orchestra. These moving transformations of simple melodic elements--encased like gems within Walker's sensitive, original, meditative settings--into far-ranging statements invite repeated listening. --Thomas May
 

CD Reviews

In complete agreement
bookhaus | Geneva, IL | 02/05/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I completely agree with Richard's assessment of this composer. My first exposure, sadly, was the same as his, having heard George Walker only for the first time when WNIB signed off for the final time. Walker's work is deserving of widespread acclaim. It is difficult to place importance on work of our time. We all lack distance in our perspective. But Walker's mind is brilliant and his work on "Lyric" is enormously complex, compassionate, emotive and equal to the works of many past masters. Vaughn Williams comes to mind. High praise? You bet. At the time I type this, this particular disc is not available. But search it out and you will not be disappointed."