Florence Price - Symphony No. 3 in C Minor (East Coast Premiere)

From October 8, 2016 Family Weekend concert in Woolsey Hall.
Toshiyuki Shimada, conductor

[@billlawlor4858]

I'll be perfectly honest, and it will show how blinded I was by growing up in a prejudiced neighborhood in a prejudiced family. I never gave a thought to ANY African-American, especially a female, who could compose such lovely music. I love classical music, and a new world has opened up for me. I will do research so that I identify composers of color to add to my ever-growing file folder of classical composers whose music i truly love.

[@dbadagna]

The most famous African American symphonist was William Grant Still (1895-1978), and he composed five symphonies beginning in 1930, as well as four ballets and nine operas. The local symphony orchestra in Akron, Ohio, USA (where I live) will be playing several of his works this coming season, as well as this symphony by Florence Price.

[@jksteven1]

When I was in college in the early 1960's I recall the expression of praise for women performers, but disdain for female composers. Women did not (in the words of my music professors) have the depth of mind or spirit to compose in what was mainly a man's domain. This could have only have been perpetuated by a lack of exposure to women's large-scale works. Prejudice....no bigotry...in the world of music has been rampant, and still in rampant, in many areas. Fortunately for all of us music lovers, the realization of the error concerning women composers is becoming a thing of the past.

[@elijahminiuk2058]

Context needed.

[@warmswarm]

@@elijahminiuk2058 - Context not needed actually, you pompous little man.

[@dbadagna]

I think the symphonies of the French composer Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) are just as good as those of Schubert or Schumann.

[@womensphil]

Movement I: Andante 10:15 -- Movement II: Andante ma non troppo 17:22 -- Movement III: Juba: Allegro 22:50 -- Movement IV: Scherzo: Finale

[@Mo-MuttMusic]

Movement III is my favorite. I love the ragtime influence, how it swings, how the ragtime theme intertwines with that bluesy rumba theme. This is the first Florence Price composition I've heard. I plan to look for more of her work. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music

[@liane58]

@@Mo-MuttMusic Juba is an Africa dance form and Price uses them in her Symphonies (1, 3, and 4 --- 2 has still not been recovered)

[@womensphil]

What a fantastic orchestra! And fun to hear the well-deserved ovation!

[@andywellsglobaldomination]

Part of the second movement was used as the theme for the radio show, "The Sixshooter", which starred James Stewart.

[@andywellsglobaldomination]

I sure hope Price got paid for NBC using that song. It's used to paint a picture of the American West.

[@andywellsglobaldomination]

PS - No. The theme is credited to "British film composer Charles Williams" according to the wiki. Pretty sure it was stolen because it sounds a helluva lot like this, as in identical.

[@paulprocopolis]

I heard a piece by Florence Price on the radio this morning - my introduction to this composer - and now this. It's a most engaging and well-written work which I enjoyed listening to!

[@karah1838]

i guss not being enthralled with copeland or bruckner - this is not our cup of tea

[@francetogo794]

Thank you Paul! If only she would have been more recognized and had more opportunities back then. SO sad, but her music lives on. I was lying in bed in the classical radio station played her music and said she was a black composer. I'm still in awe so much to bring me to tears.

[@andywellsglobaldomination]

This appears to be the season of the female composer... to which I say - HALLALUYAH! Where've you been keeping these ladies, and why wasn't I taught them in my music classes?

[@patrickdelahanty6700]

Mentioned and recommended by Dan Rather's Steady newsletter

[@georgesimonson2313]

My alma mater. (I trained as a composer.) Great to see the orchestra moving in fresh, much-needed directions.

[@rudolphkopp9902]

Superb work. It should be performed more often, and by major symphony orchestras and famous conductors.

[@francetogo794]

Thank you Rudolph! If only she would have been more recognition and opportunities back then. SO sad, but her music lives on. I was lying in bed in the classical radio station played her music and said she was a black composer. I'm still in awe so much to bring me to tears.

[@pcpt]

it was performed by the national symphony orchestra! i saw it live

[@francetogo794]

@@pcpt Good for you.

[@dbadagna]

It will be played by the Akron Symphony Orchestra (in Akron, Ohio, USA) this coming season.

[@carlosmorais3610]

Loved it!

[@bach484]

Great Piece Toshi, wonderful music making!!! love to work with you again!

[@122avis]

Black History month...good on 'ya. Great article in the NYT. The music is cinematic. The minor key, a tough sell. Loved the 2nd mov't. Hope she gets more air time. She's a threefer for American orchestras seeking to diversify and educate their audiences: black, female and American.

[@notmyworld44]

From a 38-year veteran of symphony orchestra performance: Symphony orchestra performances are primarily entertainment, and GRAND entertainment at that. The idea that we do it to educate is erroneous. (I am being polite.)

[@howardmcclellan6344]

Why is a minor key a tough sell? about 2/3 of my symphonies (of 54) are in minor keys...

[@HanifAmanullah]

@@notmyworld44 All music is meant to convey messages, ideas-and that includes education. The idea that music is purely for entertainment is a sad and superficial interpretation of what great musicians create. Music is meant to tell stories, to showcase new concepts, to inspire. Of course no one composes a piece purely to "educate" about diversity or what have you-but the existence of performative music is in itself an act of education to whomever chooses to listen (or rather, chooses to be open). And please, calm down with the "GRAND." This is the kind of high-art pretentiousness that destroys great pieces.

[@notmyworld44]

@@HanifAmanullah Your comment is graciously well-taken 😐👍

[@briandobbelaere3918]

@@howardmcclellan6344 I suppose if one considers the opening or closing tonality/chords of a symphony to be the tonal determinant, then this is in C minor. 85% of the piece is not in a minor key area, though. Her Symphony No 3 in E minor is definitely a minor-key work, and has some striking similarities to the final movement of Dvorak's New World, also.

[@pilouetmissiou]

Very rich writing of sounds, written very well and entertaining to listen. The public doesn't seem accustomed to listening to music....! a very interesting composer anyway .... very good young orchestra.

[@andywellsglobaldomination]

Most people don't listen to music - they wallow in sounds.

[@milindamilinda8921]

Beautiful

[@ginablue1138]

The Symphony sounds wonderful, I would love to see the musicians close up.

[@philhomes233]

Fun and well written.

[@hanscarl4117]

Splendid!

[@samiam1025]

Wonderful piece, Sirus XM Symphony Hall had this as #76 of their 76 all time Symphonies List. I couldn't find it on Apple Music for some reason even though there's a lot of Price pieces listed there.

[@francetogo794]

Thank you Steve, f only she would have been more recognized and had more opportunities back then. SO sad, but her music lives on. I was lying in bed in the classical radio station played her music and said she was a black composer. I'm still in awe so much to bring me to tears.

[@wendyscott8425]

@@francetogo794 The Modesto Symphony just performed this work a couple of weeks ago, and I was in tears at the end of the second movement. Interesting that this audience couldn't help but applaud that same movement. Our audience lept to their feet at the end and cheered. What a great piece of music!!!

[@francetogo794]

@@wendyscott8425 that's wonderful. I would have love to have been there. I'm so happy to hear Mrs. Price is getting more recognition for her work then she did when she was alive. It's never too late to make things right.

[@wendyscott8425]

@@francetogo794 She wasn't completely unrecognized. Price was the first black woman composer to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. In 1933, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played the world premiere of her “Symphony No. 1 in E minor.” I also heard she took Dvorak's advice to heart when he told American composers they needed to use African-American and Indigenous music in their compositions. They needed to stop imitating Europeans; they were Americans and these songs and chants were American music. Composers like Gershwin did so, too.

[@francetogo794]

@@wendyscott8425 Oh Wow! You know your classical music for sure. I really never heard of Mrs. Price and I've listened to classical radio on NPR for many years. Perhaps they played her music but didn't give a description of her so I would've never known she was of African-American descent. But one day in November 2022, I was listening to NPR one early morning and the announcer had mentioned she was African-American and how her musical scores wasn't discovered until someone had purchased a home she had once lived in. What kind of classical music you like to listen to? I like Yo-Yo Ma.

[@marvelously_yours7489]

As young black musician I find it very sad that I wasn't exposed to black composers the same way that I was exposed to the white European or american ones..... I also find it very sad that an orchestra is playing the work of a black female composer but there's not one black musician nor is the conductor black. A change has to be made!!!!

[@windstorm1000]

I agree! Sometimes as we know change comes in increments. Im thrilled Ms. Price's works getting more performances. Her work needs more.

[@liane58]

There may be black musicians because it is hard to see everyone, and people can be black without "looking" black ( -- or they would appear black if we could see them better ...). But really, we don't know how people are identifying. But of course your point is correct, that young African-Americans need more encouragement to become involved classical music.

[@EDarylDuff]

The change must be in our Black community and culture. We don't have many Black classically trained muscians because most of our people don't have the vision to appreciate it. I am a vocal music professor now after 23 years of service singing in the US Navy Band Sea Chanters in Washington, D.C. My parents were Arkansas sharecroppers. All they knew was hard work; manual labor. Though they had no clue about classical music, orchestras, operas and vocal arias they knew I had something special and didn't force me to stop pursuing my musical career. I had a Black neighbor who informed me there was no future in music and strongly suggested I study subjects that will make money. I am pleased to say at 55 and I have been a musician for all my life. I've raised and supported a family as a musician. We never missed a meal or rent. I give God all the praise for allowing me to support my family as a musician. We need the Black community to open their minds in support of and gather around our musically talented young people. Their are many young Blacks with a future as classical composers, conductors and performers.

[@mrlr1960]

But in Europe, at least, there is an excellent orchestra (if you don't already know it) called Chineke! Orchestra. An excellent group, conducted by the non less excellent maestro Wayne Marshall. At kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXzXepWhhZinna8& you'll find the amazing "Ballad" by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor played by them. I take the opportunity to suggest you to take a look to the very recent article published here: www.classical-music.com/features/composers/eight-best-bme-composers-you-should-know-about, entitled "Eight of the best BME composers you should know about". I do agree with you that a change has to be made and I think to promote the existent initiatives is one of the ways. Best!

[@barbarakhristi]

What do you suppose the racial make up is of the audience? just saying...

[@enriquesanchez2001]

Fantastic discovery!!!!!!!! My only qualms are with one or two of the percussion players... in this performance.

[@rayr5105]

Perhaps what is bothering you about the percussion performance is the result of the mix of the recording: percussion parts seem to be hard panned to the left throughout. This would be the fault of the recording technicians, not the musicians.

[@turnne]

Hints of Dvorak in this work

[@Danbassin]

turnne Dvořák can be seen as Price’s ‘grandteacher’ as she was a pupil of Chadwick at the New England Conservatory. This style of excellently-crafted orchestral showpieces ranging in genre from tone poem to full-fledged symphonies, as in this masterwork, is a direct progression from the symphonic achievements of that late romantic generation of composers, with Dvořák’s actual presence in the United States leaving a lasting legacy, continuing through postwar film scores.

[@wittieboy44]

@@Danbassin I am not a trained music scholar, nevertheless, didn't Dvorak adopt melodies from African American spirituals in the New World symphony? Maybe Price already had it in her DNA with no input from Dvorak.

[@AndrewRudin]

"HINTS" of Dvorak?????? LOL.

[@turnne]

@@AndrewRudin Meaning?

[@Barpoint212]

@@wittieboy44 no, the other way around. "Goin' Home" uses the main melody from the slow movement of Dvorak 9, properly crediting Dvorak as the composer.

[@samlin9265]

19:00

[@sabrinasofia4848]

18:53**

[@dominicfrigo7594]

I love this piece and the orchestra is doing a great job! But does such a wonderful piece from such an acclaimed and established composer deserve an "East Coast Premiere" by an amateur group? This is not meant to be an insult on the orchestra; I'm merely pointing out the fact that the professional classical world has turned a blind eye to the greatness of FBP.

[@janetbelanger5757]

The older tenured counterparts have played the same classical pieces so often in their careers that practice for them is beneath them. Beethoven symphonies, Mozart symphonies and the same piano concertos over and over again. Who needs to practice this. Only rehearsals are necessary because each conductor approaches the work differently.

[@jimmorgan5612]

Sounds much like Delius, Butterworth and Arnold Bax and just beautiful. How did she hear Delius and Bax? I wonder.

[@jimmorgan5612]

Just to add, Chadwick's music was wooden and sounder nothing like this. NEC 1972.

[@seanm.9942]

Florence Price studied composition and counterpoint with George Chadwick at the New England Conservatory before 1906

[@1330m]

very good Longitude 127 Seoul Okinawa Soul Axis -- Bahai Faith Rael Jesus Huh kyung young Great secret

[@crolpotata2617]

8:22

[@lexgu9684]

17:25

[@johannrufinatscha4210]

What are the movements?

[@KuhlauDilfeng2]

Movement I: Andante Movement II: Andante ma non troppo Movement III: Juba: Allegro Mov.IV: Scherzo: Finale At least according to the Koch-recording.

[@notmyworld44]

They are listed above in publisher's comments.

[@PraisetoMyGod]

A genius ahead of her time was shunned because of racial jealousy.