Saturday, August 11, 2012

Charles Kaufmann on Gramophone Forum: 'Lost Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concert Piece on Film and MP3'

[Back cover of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto; Philippe Graffin, violin; Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra; Michael Hankinson; Avie0044 (2004)]

Charles Kaufmann, Artistic Director of The Longfellow Chorus, is the author of the following post in the Gramophone Forum on August 8, 2012:



The Orchestra of The Longfellow Chorus has just released a recording of a Coleridge-Taylor violin concert piece associated with Maud Powell's premiere of Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto. "Keep me from sinkin' down," based on the African-American spiritual by the same name, was originally commissioned as the second movement of Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto, though the composer ultimately composed an entirely different second movement. We filmed and recorded Keep me from sinkin' on the 100th anniversary of the premiere, June 4, 2012, on the very stage at the Norfolk Festival where Maud
performed it on June 4, 1912. 



There are two ways listeners can hear our June 4, 2012, Norfolk, Connecticut,
performance of Keep me from sinkin' down, with violin soloist Lydia Forbes:
1) By purchasing the mp3 through such online audio stores as Amazon  
2) By viewing the trailer to our documentary film, currently in production, "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900-1912." 

The completed film, about 90 minutes, will be released in March 2013.  This is the only recording of the piece.  I compiled the orchestra parts from Coleridge-Taylor's original manuscript. Ours is one of the very few performances of the work in history.

Best wishes,
Charles Kaufmann, artistic director
The Longfellow Chorus
PO Box 5133
Portland, Maine
USA 04101
http://www.longfellowchorus.com

[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. We are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the U.K., www.SCTF.org.uk]

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