Contemporary Classics September 4, 2018 Honoring George Walker

Composer George Walker passed away a week ago Thursday at 96 years of age.    I have to admit that I am late to my appreciation of his music.  I heard of George Walker last year at this time in the September 2017 issue NewMusicBox  the newsletter of the NewMusic USA organization entitled ”George Walker: Concise and Precise “.    He had a very productive career despite the considerable discrimination he faced.  He was the first black to be enrolled at Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and graduated in 1945.  He was the first black instrumentalist to perform in Manhattan's Town Hall also in 1945.  Later in 1945 he was the first black pianist to perform with the Philadelphia orchestra.  But soon he learned that there were few major or even minor gigs for a black classical pianist so most of his early career was in Europe where he regularly performed in most countries of western Europe for more than a decade.  When he returned to the United States in  the mid 1950s, in 1956, he became the first black recipient of a doctoral degree from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music. He was the first black tenured faculty member at Smith College in 1961.  And he was the first African American to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his work Lilacs in 1996. 

In the words of The Guardian’s music critic Tom Service “While there are traces of Walker’s musical heroes – such as Hindemith and Stravinsky – in his musical language, he has created a distinctive world that is modernist and multifaceted yet richly communicative. Amid the turbulence and vivid, dissonant drama, there is always a sustaining structural line that makes Walker’s music compelling and coherent.”

He studied composition at Curtis Institute primarily because he disliked the teaching style of Rudolph Serkin with Rosario Scalero, teacher of Samuel Barber.  He went on to study with Nadia Boulanger  

He published his first major work – his String Quartet #1 in 1946.  And this is the work we are opening with.  It is in 3 movements I. Allegro   II. Molto Adagio  III. Allegro Con Fuoco .  The Adagio became "Lyric for Strings".         

Next we are doing the work Lilacs for vocalist and orchestra for which he received the 1996 the Pulitzer Prize for Music.   Walker set the 1865 poem, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", by poet Walt Whitman. Whitman wrote the poem as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln after his death on 15 April 1865. The composition was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on February 1, 1996.[4] "The unanimous choice of the Music Jury, this passionate, and very American, musical composition...has a beautiful and evocative lyrical quality using words of Walt Whitman."  There are 4 movements - Lilacs: I. Eighth note = 56         II. Quarter note = 60         III. Eighth note = 56        IV. Quarter note = 72      

Composed in 2012 Movements for Cello and Orchestra.  Described as mercurial with a sharp-edged clarity in its modernist dissonances and angularity,: I. Risoluto         Qtr Note= 72   II. Doloroso         8^th note = 66 III. Fuocoso 8^th note=160           

1987  Poème for Violin & Orchestra: I. Eighth Note = 88         II. Eighth Note = 72 III. Eighth Note = 120

This work was premiered by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with Cho-Liang Lin as violin soloist in 1991.  It is a revised version of an earlier Violin Concerto.

 Walker states that it is, "by no means a tranquil piece."   It alternates, in his words, between an "intense lyricism" and "dramatic qualities, which you hear particularly in the final movement."   It is dedicated to his mother in tribute to her extraordinary devotion to her family and friends.  "I think," he said, "she would have liked the piece."

The ascending intervals that characterize the brief introduction to the first movement appear in similar statements in the other two movements.  The violin cadenza in the first movement uses these intervals also in its pizzicato beginning.   Following the return of the initital thematic material, the introduction is restated in a more rhythmic guise.  In the second movement, solo violin excursions are framed by the dramatic opening measure that recurs at the end of the movement.   The third movement follows the pattern of the first two in achieving its climactic moment near the middle of the movement.

Sinfonia No. 4, 'Strands'         In 2012 the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra marked his 90th birthday with the premiere of another Walker work, Sinfonia No. 4, “Strands.” Strand is a one movement piece, with driving rhythms and spotlighted sections with the winds and woodwinds. It’s an interesting work, bringing to mind some of the music of Persichetti and Neisen

1968   Antifonys for String Orchestra         Antifonys for Chamber Orchestra was composed in 1968 and was first performed at the Bennington Composers Conference in Bennington, Vermont and for a double string quartet, seven winds and percussion. It’s an interesting and intense work, Although is is a unique piece, listeners who like the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra will find much to savor. After a short introduction, the principal allegro begins in "doppio movimento."   Fragments of melody are tossed around.  Kaleidoscopic harmonic patterns alternate or are combined with pulsating rhythms.  Climax follows climax until the movement subsides with a string glissando.         Sinfonia Varsovia & Ian Hobson from the album George Walker: Great American Orchestral Works, Vol. 4        

Songs from the collection From Songs for Baritone and Piano.   Take, O Take Those Lips Away         Lament      And Wilt Thou Leave Me Thus      Song Without Words