Chineke! Orchestra – Coleridge-Taylor (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

The new album by Chineke! Orchestra presents works by the British composer Samuel Coleridge- Taylor
This 2-CD set includes Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto and Romance in G Major, Op. 39, both performed by violinist Elena Urioste, the Ballade in A Minor, and the African Suite. Chineke! Orchestra also presents a world premiere recording, “Sussex Landscape, Op. 27,” composed by the composer’s daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor
“Since the day it was founded in 2015, the Chineke! Orchestra has been making waves.” (Financial Times)

This album marks the debut of the minority-oriented Chineke! Orchestra on the Decca label, and it is quite a promising beginning indeed. Perhaps the African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a natural choice for the group, but even with his 21st century revival, it seems to be the same few pieces that are played and recorded over and over, focusing on the traces of African-American music and African music in his work. Hearing a lot of his music together in one place is something of a revelation, for his melodic gift seems inexhaustible. Sample the Romance for violin, Op. 39, and one will see why some of Coleridge-Taylor’s contemporaries dubbed him “the Black Dvořák”; it is a much better moniker than the “African Mahler” nickname bestowed during his U.S. tour. Indeed, even in the African Suite, Op. 35 (an arrangement of a piano work), the African element, though it is there, is minimal. Another big attraction here, and the explanation for the nonspecific Coleridge-Taylor title, is the presence of the tone poem Sussex Landscape, Op. 27, by Coleridge-Taylor’s daughter Avril, dating from the mid-’30s. Though not on the cutting edge of British music, it is a fine, evocative work with a plangent English horn part. The young orchestra plays with not only enthusiasm but also precision in live as well as studio tracks, and the group seems to be offering not only a mission but musical value. – James Manheim

Tracklist:
1-01. Chineke! Orchestra – Othello, Op. 79: I. Dance (02:29)
1-02. Chineke! Orchestra – Othello, Op. 79: II. Children’s Intermezzo (03:52)
1-03. Chineke! Orchestra – Othello, Op. 79: III. Funeral March (03:52)
1-04. Chineke! Orchestra – Othello, Op. 79: IV. The Willow Song (02:41)
1-05. Chineke! Orchestra – Othello, Op. 79: V. Military March (02:12)
1-06. Chineke! Orchestra – A. Coleridge-Taylor: Sussex Landscape, Op. 27: I. Largo (07:26)
1-07. Chineke! Orchestra – A. Coleridge-Taylor: Sussex Landscape, Op. 27: II. Lento e molto tranquillo (03:27)
1-08. Chineke! Orchestra – A. Coleridge-Taylor: Sussex Landscape, Op. 27: III. Largo – Maestoso (02:41)
1-09. Chineke! Orchestra – African Suite, Op. 35: I. Introduction (Orch. Chris Cameron) (05:06)
1-10. Chineke! Orchestra – African Suite, Op. 35: II. A Love Song (Orch. Chris Cameron) (03:47)
1-11. Chineke! Orchestra – African Suite, Op. 35: III. Valse (Orch. Chris Cameron) (04:36)
1-12. Chineke! Orchestra – African Suite, Op. 35: IV. African Dance (Orch. Chris Cameron) (06:14)
1-13. Chineke! Orchestra – Coleridge-Taylor: Ballade in A Minor, Op. 33: I. Allegro energico, ma non troppo presto (05:48)
1-14. Chineke! Orchestra – Coleridge-Taylor: Ballade in A Minor, Op. 33: II. A tempo – Tranquillo e molto espressivo (05:49)
1-15. Chineke! Orchestra – Petite Suite de Concert, op. 77: I. Le caprice de Nannette (03:44)
1-16. Chineke! Orchestra – Petite Suite de Concert, op. 77: II. Demande et réponse (05:35)
1-17. Chineke! Orchestra – Petite Suite de Concert, op. 77: III. Un sonnet d’amour (03:40)
1-18. Chineke! Orchestra – Petite Suite de Concert, op. 77: IV. La tarantelle frétillante (02:46)
1-19. Elena Urioste – Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 80: I. Allegro maestoso (11:32)
1-20. Elena Urioste – Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 80: II. Andante semplice (08:48)
1-21. Elena Urioste – Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 80: III. Allegro molto (11:04)
1-22. Elena Urioste – Coleridge-Taylor: Romance for Violin, Op. 39: I. Larghetto (04:58)
1-23. Elena Urioste – Coleridge-Taylor: Romance for Violin, Op. 39: II. Animato – A tempo (04:49)
1-24. Chineke! Chamber Ensemble – Nonet, Op. 2: I. Allegro energico (08:22)
1-25. Chineke! Chamber Ensemble – Nonet, Op. 2: II. Andante con moto (05:27)
1-26. Chineke! Chamber Ensemble – Nonet, Op. 2: III. Scherzo (Allegro) (04:50)
1-27. Chineke! Chamber Ensemble – Nonet, Op. 2: IV. Finale (Allegro vivace) (07:43)