Orchestral Suite "Wood Notes" - William Grant Still

Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Jeter

I - Singing River. Moderately slow: 0:00
II - Autumn Night. Lightly: 6:41
III - Moon Dusk. Slowly and expressively: 9:25
IV - Whippoorwill's Shoes. Humorously: 13:47

The life and career of the African-American composer William Grant Still qualifies as the quintessential American “success story.” Often referred to as the “dean of African-American composers". Still’s most distinctive works are nationalistic, using African-American forms such as the blues, spirituals, and jazz in addition to other ethnic American musics. After an early flirtation with avant-garde techniques, Still returned to a neo-romantic idiom with lyrical melody and traditional harmony. His work retains a freshness with immediate appeal. Still, a deeply spiritual man, inscribed each of his works to God, “the source of all inspiration.”

The orchestral suite Wood Notes was originally cast in five movements but the publisher chose to delete the final movement, creating the four-movement version recorded here. The work takes its inspiration from the American Southern poet J. Mitchell Pilcher. The premiere by the eminent conductor Arthur Rodziński and the Chicago Symphony took place on April 22, 1948. Contemporary reviewers took note of the work’s “pleasantness” and “personality”. Wood Notes is dedicated to one of Still’s Oberlin instructors, F.J. Lehmann. It is scored for full or reduced orchestra. The “Dvořákian” colors (use of the woodwind choir with pentatonic melodic figures) reinforce and enhance the pastoral mood, along with Still’s impressionistic textures.

Sources: https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs...