Black Renaissance Woman

by Samantha Ege

Overview

Pianist Samantha Ege posits the composers represented here as examples of the Black Renaissance Woman, a creative figure from the Harlem Renaissance era. Not all were part of that scene; Helen Hagan was a Yale student who lived in Connecticut, and several of the others were connected to Chicago. However, they reflect impulses in common, and they work together well on a program that is unusual in its inspiration. Black composers tend to be incorporated into concerts and recordings devoted mostly to music by whites or else to focus on a single composer, but the mixture of works here reveals several different solutions to, for example, the problem of how to incorporate African American vernacular influences into a European late Romantic language. The solutions here are entirely different; Margaret Bonds is capable of full-throated blues, while Florence B. Price uses Joplinesque ragtime syncopations to generate an energetic finale to a work that otherwise avoids these influences (her Piano Concerto in C minor and the Piano Concerto of Hagan are transcribed for two pianos). The Negro Dance for piano of Nora Holt is also heavily influenced by Black dance music. Elsewhere, the African American influence is subtler, coming in the form of pentatonic shadings and light syncopations. The album as a whole conveys something of the musical grammars that were available to an African American composer of the time, and Ege's precise readings, neither missing nor overdoing the vernacular element, serve the music well. Another attraction here is the presence of some rarely heard composers whose selections suggest riches yet to be discovered. Bonds and Price are well enough represented on recordings, but Hagan and Betty Jackson King are much less so, and Nora Holt, a famously flamboyant character of the era, is almost never played. This is because many of her compositions were lost, but not all of them were, and it is good to have this sprightly work on recordings. Essential for collections of classical music by African Americans, this album is enjoyable for anyone and suggests new programming directions. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	06/03/2022
Label:	Lorelt
UPC:	0781064014522
Rank:	139795

Tracks

1. Spiritual Suite~The Valley of the Bones
2. Spiritual Suite~The Bells
3. Spiritual Suite~Troubled Water
4. Negro Dance
5. Piano Concerto in C Minor
6. Four Seasonal Sketches~Spring Intermezzo
7. Four Seasonal Sketches~Summer Interlude
8. Four Seasonal Sketches~Autumn Dance
9. Four Seasonal Sketches~Winter Holiday
10. Piano Concerto in One Movement~Moderato
11. Piano Concerto in One Movement~Adagio
12. Piano Concerto in One Movement~Andantino-Allegretto

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Samantha Ege   Primary Artist,Piano
John-Paul Ekins   Piano

Technical Credits

Helen Hagan   Composer
Odaline de la Martinez   Producer,Executive Editing
Nora Holt   Composer
Betty Jackson King   Composer
Adaq Khan   Editing,Engineer,Producer
Artina McCain   Liner Notes
Samantha Ege   Liner Notes
A. Kori Hill   Liner Notes
Lucy Caplan   Liner Notes
Margaret Bonds   Composer
Florence Price   Composer