The Spiritual Connection
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Lillian Richter’s “Spirituals” (circa 1935-43), Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
It’s been said that through adversity comes strength, and the way we deal with affliction defines who we are as human beings.
There may be no greater example than the African American spiritual, a deeply felt response to desperation in untenable circumstances, a grasping for hope, and a carefully disguised defiance of forced servitude. And somehow, through it all, flashes of humor and joy.
In the next hour, some of the best-known spirituals and their appearance in instrumental and orchestral music, including Florence Price’s The Mississippi River and Antonin Dvorak’s New World Symphony.
FEATURED RECORDINGS
| Title |
Group/Artist |
Disc/Track* |
Catalog # |
UPC |
| Seraph [for opening trumpet “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”] |
Alison Balsam |
8 |
EMI Classic
6 78590 2 |
5099967859023 |
| American Spirituals, Folk-Songs [for “Go Down, Moses”] |
Willard White |
1 |
Chandos CHAN 8960 |
095115896020 |
| Uncovered, Vol. 2: Florence B. Price [for Negro Folksongs in Counterpoint for String Quartet: No. 1, “Go Down Moses”] |
Catalyst Qua |
5 |
Azica Records 71346 |
787867134627 |
| Lifeline - Music of The Underground Railroad[for “Wade in the Water.”] |
Michelle Mayne-Graves, Lifeline Quartet |
4 |
Yarlung Records YAR78677 |
193428786776 |
| Soulscapes [for “Troubled Water,” by Margaret Bonds] |
Maria Thompson Corley |
20 |
Albany Records TROY 857 |
034061085720 |
| The Best of the Moses Hogan Chorale [for “I Got a Robe”] |
Marletta Simpson, Moses Hogan Chorale. |
1/3 |
MGH Records
MGH-2581 |
750458258125 |
| Composers in New York [for Morton Gould’s Spirituals for Strings] |
I Musici de Montreal, Yuli Turovsky |
6 |
Chandos CHAN 9848 |
095115984826 |
| Book & CD: New Worlds of Dvorak [for piano of “Swing Low” and New World Symphony] |
Michael B. Beckerman |
34 |
W.W. Norton Company |
9780393047066 |
| Dvorak: Complete Symphonies |
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Jarvi |
7/1 & 2 |
Brilliant Classics 99572 |
0675754995724 |
| Summertime, [for “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” break] |
Isata Kanneh-Mason |
17 |
Decca 4851663 |
028948516636 |
| Old American Songs, Spirituals, Folk-Songs [for “Deep River”] |
Willard White, Graeme McNaught |
9 |
Chandos CHAN 8960 |
095115896020 |
| Coleridge-Taylor Clarinet Quintet, etc, [for “Deep River” from 24 Negro Melodies Transcribed for the Piano] |
Virginia Eskin |
8 |
Koch 3-7056-2H1 |
099923705628 |
| On My Journey Now: Spirituals & Hymns[for “Stand Still, Jordan”] |
Lester Lynch |
13 |
PentaTone
PTC 5186571 |
827949057168 |
| Price - Symphony No. 3, The Mississippi River |
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, John Jeter |
7 & 8 |
Naxos 8.559867 |
636943989722 |
| Tippett: A Child of Our Time |
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, Andre Previn |
30 |
RPO Records
CDRPO 8005 |
5011975800521 |
4:00 p.m.
Alison Balsom
traditional
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
4:01 p.m.
Willard White
traditional
Go Down, Moses
Willard White, bass; Graeme McNaught, piano
4:03 p.m.
Catalyst Quartet
Florence Price
Negro Folksongs in Counterpoint for String Quartet - No. 1, Do Down Moses
4:09 p.m.
Lifeline Quartet, Michelle Mayne-Graves
Wade in the Water
4:12 p.m.
Maria Thompson Corley
Margaret Bonds
Troubled Water
4:17 p.m.
Marletta Simpson, Moses Hogan Chorale
I Got a Robe
4:19 p.m.
I Musici de Montreal, Yuli Toruvsky
Morton Gould
Spirituals for Strings: 3. All God's Children Got Wings
4:23 p.m.
Spirituals in Concert Chorus and Orchestra, James Levine
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Ride Up in the Chariot
Kathleen Battle
4:24 p.m.
Michael B. Beckerman
Wallace & Minerva Willis
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
4:24 p.m.
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Jarvi
Antonin Dvorak
Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," 1.
4:30 p.m.
Isata Kanneh-Mason
traditional, arr: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
4:31 p.m.
Willard White
traditional, arr: M. Marshall
Deep River
4:35 p.m.
Virginia Eskin
traditional, arr: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Deep River
4:42 p.m.
Lester Lynch
traditional, arr: Henry T. Burleigh
Stand Still Jordan
4:43 p.m.
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, John Jeter
Florence Price
The Mississippi River Allegro - Andante
4:48 p.m.
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, John Jeter
Florence Price
The Mississippi River, Andante - Allegretto - Allegro
4:57 p.m.
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Brighton Festival Chorus, Andre Previn
Michael Tippett
A Child of Our Time, Part III - A Spiritual
