Kellen Gray & Royal Scottish National Orchestra – African American Voices II (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Kellen Gray & Royal Scottish National Orchestra – African American Voices II (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:36 minutes | 754 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Linn Records

Kellen Gray has reunited with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a second instalment of African American Voices. Though representing differing schools of thought regarding African American classical music, the composers here are united by their roots in black history, culture and its rich musical heritage. Drawing upon jazz and spirituals – ‘I Want Jesus to Walk with Me’ serving as the source material – Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations engages with African American history, namely the Montgomery bus boycott and the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. In this work, re-discovered in 2017, Bonds tackles the themes of strength, resistance, determination and faith. Bonds’ contemporary, the prolific composer Ulysses Kay cultivated a neoclassical voice, as his Concerto for Orchestra exemplifies, very much in line with William Grant Still and his teacher Paul Hindemith. A versatile musician, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson comes a generation later. In his Worship: A Concert Overture, we can hear a blend of Baroque counterpoint, elements of the blues, spirituals and black folk music.

The two releases (so far) of African American Voices albums by conductor Kellen Gray and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra have been valuable in that they have brought exposure to African American composers whose works have not been in general circulation. That is especially true of this second volume, including works by composers from after World War II, who took a variety of approaches toward the use of African American vernacular material. The Montgomery Variations of the underplayed Margaret Bonds use the spiritual I Want Jesus to Walk with Me as a commentary on the turbulent history of that city in the 1950s and ’60s, with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 white terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in which four girls were killed. The piece is a set of variations on the spiritual, deepening both the somber mood and sentiments of hope as it proceeds. Ulysses Kay’s Concerto for Orchestra reflects the influence of his mentors, William Grant Still and Paul Hindemith, and certainly the inspiration of Bartók’s enormously popular work in this genre. It makes little reference to African American traditions. The career of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson began during the time of Kay and Bonds but extended into the 21st century; Worship: A Concert Overture was written in 2001. It is a niftily compact treatment of the hymn Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow, subjecting it to hints of blues, spirituals, Baroque counterpoint, call-and-response structure, and much more. Perkinson will likely be unknown to many listeners, and the physical album is recommended to them; it contains a good deal of biographical material on all three composers. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra sounds terrific and takes remarkable lyric flight in the Arioso central movement of Kay’s work. The group, coached with foot-stomping exercises by conductor Gray, has none of the reticence that sometimes shows up in European performances of African American music. A fresh release of considerable interest to specialists in African American music and indeed, to general listeners. – James Manheim

Tracklist:
01. Kellen Gray – I. Decision (01:41)
02. Kellen Gray – II. Prayer Meeting (04:41)
03. Kellen Gray – III. March (03:15)
04. Kellen Gray – IV. Dawn in Dixie (02:38)
05. Kellen Gray – V. One Sunday in the South (02:42)
06. Kellen Gray – VI. Lament (02:41)
07. Kellen Gray – VII. Benediction (05:23)
08. Kellen Gray – I. Toccata. Allegro moderato (04:47)
09. Kellen Gray – II. Arioso. Adagio (06:10)
10. Kellen Gray – III. Passacaglia. Andante (07:09)
11. Kellen Gray – Worship: A Concert Overture (06:24)

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