William Dawson - Negro Folk Symphony (1934)

William Levi Dawson (September 26, 1899 - May 2, 1990) was an African-American composer, choir director and professor.
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Negro Folk Symphony (1934)
I. The Bond of Africa (0:00)
II. Hope in the Night (11:08)
III. O Let Me Shine! (21:08)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi
Description by "Blue" Gene Tyranny [-]
Completed in 1932, and premiered by Leopold Stokowski in Philadelphia in November 1934, this marvelous and neglected symphony was later revised in 1952 after a visit by the composer to West Africa. The first movement, "The Bond of Africa, " opens with a plaintive theme played by a solo French horn that symbolizes for the composer a "missing link, " a break in the human, social chain when his ancestors were taken from Africa in slavery. The beautiful melody is interrupted by chromatic chords whenever it is stated and never allowed to finish. After a development of this original theme, the orchestra suddenly bursts into fantastical variations on the traditional spiritual (called in dialect) "Oh, m' littl' soul gwine-a shine" (Oh, my little soul is going to shine); the orchestration is brilliant and original. The variations gradually develop into more dramatic territory with sweeping canonic imitation. An energetic, cascading coda, finely and richly orchestrated concludes the first movement.
Three low gong strikes, representing the Trinity, open the next movement, "Hope in the Night." An English horn emerges with a moving, elegant melody, "a plea from the darkness, " which is soon taken up by the strings and developed to a dramatic, desperate tension, which is suddenly broken by an Allegretto, a song of children "yet unaware of the hopelessness beclouding their future." The "missing link" melody from the first movement is recalled by a solo cello, and then French horn, surrounded by wind melissima. We again hear the children's song, although it is now mixed with the "plea" melody and the "missing link" melody which are all interwoven and developed in a dramatic Mahlerian dialogue. Tolling bells join in and drive the music to an extreme, passionate cry. A marvelous effect is created with low trombones and an insistent pulse on the tom-tom depicting the drudgery of the slaves' existence. Three orchestra bells with gong are separated by tremolo swells in the strings and the pulsing tom-tom to create an overwhelmingly effective ending.
The third movement, "O Le' Me Shine" (Oh, Let Me Shine), is built on two interwoven themes from the Afro-American folk songs "O le' me shine, le'me shine, lik' a mornin' star" and "Hallelujah, Lord, I been down into the sea." Fragments from the tunes are given to various instruments, which answer each other, and then play in complex polyphonic groups. Some spectacular brass and wind writing occur in the development section. The melodies become stretched chromatically toward the conclusion, and a glorious, spine-tingling coda concludes the work. No mere pastiche of Americana, this grand work is by a composer fully conversant with the subtleties of technique and possibilities of expression in the symphonic form.