Monday, March 2, 2009

Washington Post: 'The IBIS provided a glimpse of Still's wide spectrum of styles...'

[William Grant Still (1895-1978); (Photo is the sole property of William Grant Still Music, and is used with permission.)]

WashingtonPost.com
Cecelia Porter
Monday, March 2, 2009; 11:22 AM
Every seat was filled for Friday's splendid concert by the IBIS Chamber Music Society at Lyon Park Community Center in Clarendon. IBIS is a group formed by musicians from the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. Friday's performance gave listeners a chance to hear these players up close in a chamber group with frequent chances for solos. Far off the beaten path, the program drew music from two relatively obscure composers -- American William Grant Still and William Alwyn of Britain.

“A pioneer in many ways, Still (who died in 1978) was the first African American to write a symphony played by an major orchestra and one of the first to compose for film, radio and television. The IBIS provided a glimpse of Still's wide spectrum of styles, ranging from neoclassicism, French impressionism, jazz and gospel in unusual juxtapositions overlaid with unmistakable individualism. Most evocative was his dark-toned 'Incantation and Dance,' played with molten phrasing by flutist Adria Sternstein Foster and harpist Susan Robinson. Violinist Joel Fuller and Robinson underlined the gospel-infused mood of 'Here's One,' while Fuller joined with violinist Joseph Scheer, violist Jennifer Ries and cellist Amy Ward Butler in capturing the coloristic exoticism and enticing Latin rhythms of 'Danzas de Panama.'" [Full Post]  [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is also found]

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