Credits:

Walker, George (1922-2018)

Description:

Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra's Collection of Works by George Walker, America's Leading Composer! The latest release on the Cleveland Orchestra label, led by Franz Welser-Möst, is a collection of works by George Walker (1922-2018), one of America's most celebrated composers, whose 100th birthday is in 2022! The collection includes his Pulitzer Prize-winning work for voice and orchestra, Lilac, as well as Antiphony and Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 for string ensemble. George Walker, a leading American composer and the first musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996, was born in 1922 to a Jamaican immigrant father, a physician, and a mother who early recognized Walker's talent working for the U.S. government printing office. After studying piano at Oberlin, Walker studied piano and composition at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he became its first black graduate in 1945. His association with the Cleveland Orchestra dates back to April 1947. I wrote to George Sell, then in his second year as Music Director, "Dear Maestro Sell, I am writing to you for the first time. I would like to present to you this Adagio for string orchestra. I hope you will like it and will perform it for us.Sell did not play it at the time, but it later became one of his masterpieces under the name "Lyric for Strings. Although Sell did not perform the work at this time, it later became one of his masterpieces under the name "Lyric for Strings. Throughout his life, Walker continued to fight to have his music played by the world's great orchestras and in the most famous halls. Walker passed away in 2018 at the age of 96, without ever seeing his work receive renewed attention. The most notable work on this disc is "Lilac," a work for voice and orchestra. Set to four verses of Walt Whitman's memorial poem to Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for this work (commissioned by the Boston Symphony, world premiered by Ozawa (Commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere was conducted by Seiji Ozawa in 1996.) Although an atonal work, the melody of the song is always harmonized and the three key elements of the text - lilacs, birds, and stars - are effectively rendered in sound. King International

Tracklisting:

1.Antifonys for string orchestra
2.Sinfonia No. 4, "Strands"
3.Lilacs for voice and orchestra~[Part 1]
4.Lilacs for voice and orchestra~[Part 2]
5.Lilacs for voice and orchestra~[Part 3]
6.Lilacs for voice and orchestra~[Part 4]
7.Sinfonia No. 5, "Visions"