William Grant Still - Symphony no. 2 (1/4) 1937

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

Symphony no. 2 (Song of a New Race) 1937

1. Slowly

Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi

William Grant Still (May 11,1895 - December 3,1978) was an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. He was the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony of his own (his first symphony) performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television. He is often referred to as "the dean" of African-American composers.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• grant
• still
• symphony

[TNMEBDCara]

ahhh I love this. I'm taking my laptop to school tomorrow and playing this for a presentation for black history month :D

[bartje11]

Great idea! Thanks for visiting!

[kmitch672004]

God loves wondrous colors and varieties. We as Americans must embrace all facets of our culture. BEAUTIFUL song!

[pleximanic]

Classical Blues!

[Iriecarver]

Performance date: 19/05/2012 -

Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK.

[mikswizzle]

He is not a great African American composer.....he is a great composer period, and one of the best. lets get that straight people :)

[MrTyfromdarich]

This is great!!!

[roadman89NE]

yea this stuff is amazing though i wish i could have known about this years ago. funny how i went to a university and never heard anything about it. I went to a junior college and had a black teacher and heard about it. I am from the south ( mississippi) and was wandering what the freshman college music level courses covered elsewhere?

[roadman89NE]

@WorldOfMeco assuming black people were origionally the only race in africa....

[WorldOfMeco]

I'm confused. I thought that mankinds' origins were in Africa. That makes Black people the oldest race.

[adventureman63w]

William Grant Still dedicated this Symphony to Black people in America because we are the new race.

[callmeBe]

@Maestoso28 You're hearing all the parrallelisms--ie, major thirds (which easily lead into the Lydian mode). Also, the timing is very French and anti German--an avoidance of powerful rhythmic drive into the harmonic cadences. Anyway, great observation . . .

[abdul7591]

This is a very fine symphony by an important American composer. Bartje, is there any chance you could post Jarvi's recording of the 1st symphony? I can only find excerpts of it on YouTube.