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Estelle Ricketts Ray was the daughter of Allen Ricketts, who self emancipated at age eleven, freeing from Baltimore to Darby Pennsylvania. At age 27, he was tricked and kidnapped and taken back to Baltimore to be sold into slavery. Thankfully, because of his being educated at Quaker School, he was able to send a letter back to his Darby Friends asking for help. Had he not been rescued, he would have been sold to the slave market in New Orleans, never to meet his wife & Estell would never have been born...

Are you kidding me…this is AMAZING

This is such a dreamy and exquisite American classical piece, and such a beautiful and sensitive performance! I love the key changes, as it just floats along like a cloud. It's so American in its style-with it's kind of jazzy chord structure. This is a very good recording! Lara Downes is wonderful , she really feels the piece and brings it fully to life, with this piece sounding like a perfect fusion of classical and jazz. I think It's great that Florence is finally getting the recognition she deserved. She was a genius who gave her first piano recital at age 4, and graduated high school with honors when she was only 14.

My mother played concert organ with Nadia Boulanger conducting the National Symphony Orchestra at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. in the early 1950’s. Mother had been assistant organist at the John Wanamaker store organ 1935-1949 with Mary Vogt. Her married name was Dorothy E. Quenzel

NICE!

lovely performance, such a beautiful work! would love to study this, is there a chance you could share me the score? I got recently a copy of this but theres a big cut around bar 40 and a huge passage missing! I would be very grateful!

Beautiful Lara! Please come back to Little Compton! 💗

I’ve never heard anything like this! Incredible performance! Bravo!!!

Such an incredible atmosphere!

Learning this piece now

Such a wonderful performance ❤️🎶

The fact that these pieces were not played before is a travesty. They are so moody. As soon as you play them - they really transports you to the early 1900s. The chords and melodies are so distinct - and RICH. So sad this was almost destroyed because of a bunch of racists. Thank you for playing these pieces.

Beautiful! Really enjoyed it!

You play her pieces beautifully! Where can this music be bought, same with Fantasie Negro no. 1 which you play. Absolutely fantastic! I'd love the music for that, too. Thanks!

From the Tufts University Marginalized Music Project: "There’s not a lot of information published about Estelle D. Ricketts’ life or musical career. She was born in July of 1871 and lived with her parents and brother in Darby, Pennsylvania where her father was the operator of a horse stable. The only located piece of music that she composed is “Rippling Spring Waltz,” a piano solo published in 1893. The piece is located in the Library of Congress, where it is the earliest solo piano piece ever located that was composed by a black woman."

Very pleasant to hear!!

❤

Another beautiful Price piece that I've never heard before. This is really wonderful to have Price finally get the recognition she's always deserved in history.

A lovely piece with a contrasting middle section. Played extremely well and movingly by Lara Downes. More piano and other music by Florence Price should be known.

Very nice piece and playing by Lara Downes. This piece is based on a spiritual. I can hear it but can’t remember the title. Does anyone know what it is?

Bravo!!

Very early, just after sunrise, on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire, in a canoe with my brother. This sounds so perfectly like a lake, I can hear the ripples lapping the shore in the breeze, and the floating dock bobbing up and down. If you don't step right into the center of the canoe, you end up taking an unplanned, fully clothed early swim.

❤❤❤❤❤👏👏👏👏 Awesome!!!

This is truly amazing !

ANOTHER Florence Price piece that I've never heard before but now love! One of the things I really love about Price is that her music so totally American while having the kind of sophisticated structure and tonality that the European greats had back in the classical era, yet with a little bit of an almost jazzy sense in some ways. She was like Rachmaninov, Gershwin, Stephen Foster (just a teensy bit) and Dvorak all wrapped up in one. Just a wonderful *American* composer.

Another wonderful playing by Lara Downes! The differences between the 3 roses being their color, I listen to hear that difference somehow in the associated movement, and I swear, Yellow SOUNDS like yellow (warm and sunny), White (2:48) somehow sounds white (stately and formal), and red (4:49) - to me - has a merry, festive red sound.

First time I've heard this one. I'm a big fan of Florence Price, and LOVE TH-cam because it brings such gems to anyone who can access it.

Awesome voice and a great song.

A single Florence Price Piece >>>>>>>> John Cage's whole career. You can't change muy mind

Price’s music is characterised by an individual yet unobtrusive charm through a rich harmonic palette and a certain plaintive quality of phrase closer to a spiritual than to a blues but not entirely disparate from the latter either. You play it well.

Good for lunch time tune~~:)

Best interpretation I have heard, I am learning this piece right now.. It is not easy!

Great video! And what an exciting piece of music (by Gabriella Smith) that pushes the boundaries of what we hear as a String Quartet!

Absolutely delightful! Great performers!

Which arrangement is this? I'm looking for sheet music

How can you find the score, I really need it, please let me know. Thank you very much

Beautiful!!

Really excellent. This is a masterpiece.

What a fabulous tribute!

im so eager to play this, may i ask where you found the sheet music for it?

Two gorgeous and talented ladies playing gorgeous music dedicated to our savior. Lovely.

This is my favorite song and I always use this to comfort myself when I'm sad. There are a lot of new songs these days but this one sings in my heart. Thank you to my first piano teacher for introducing this piece and I'm thankful for finding you playing this, it warms my heart!❤️

Amazing piece 🌻

Fantastic

Did she elect to not play the e minor octave arpeggios?

Bravo Michael Andor Brodeur for your May 30 WaPo feature on a celebration of women composers!

what a lovely piece!

Very beautifully played; thank you!

So beautiful!