Thursday, September 26, 2013

William Levi Dawson, Composer and Professor Born September 26, 1899, Composed 'Negro Folk Symphony'; Stokowski Recording Online



The Spirituals of William L. Dawson; The St. Olaf Choir; Anton Armstrong, conductor; Marvis Martin, soprano; St. Olaf Records 2159 (1997)

William Levi Dawson

William Levi Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony (1934)


A YouTube posting has made Dawson's only symphony available in its entirety online.  The Negro Folk Symphony (35:44) was posted on YouTube May 23, 2012.

William Levi Dawson (1899-1990) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com The Dawson page discusses the recording by Leopold Stokowski:

Leopold Stokowski conducted the first performance of Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony in 1934. He also recorded the work for Decca Records in 1963. The LP recording has since been  reissued on CD by Deutsche Grammophon as DG 477 6502 (2007). Alan Newcombe says in the liner notes that the work was important to the evolution of the American symphony:  

“His Negro Folk Symphony was first performed by Leopold Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934. After making a study of indigenous African music, in 1952 Dawson revised his work to give it a more 'African' rhythmic underpinning. While recalling the idiom of Dvorak's 'New World' Symphony and the cyclic principles of the César Franck school, not to mention Bruckner's Fourth at the opening of the last movement, the work's individuality of texture and rhythmic energy make it a significant, albeit largely unacknowledged, contribution to the development of the American symphony.”

Comment by email:
I met Dawson during a visit in Los Angeles and thereafter had several conversations with him via telephone. I greatly appreciated many of his compositions especially the haunting French Horn in the opening of his Negro Fok Symphony. During those years, I sought to produce a national radio program featuring interviews with neglected but worthy composers of African descent. I requested interviews with Dawson, George Walker and Ulysses Kay. Dawson told me that part of our problem is 'we talk to much' and I was unable to convince him of the merits of seeking to educate the public via radio interview. George Walker did not refuse to be interviewed but he was not available when I went to New Jersey. Ulysses Kay agreed to an interview. John Malveaux

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