It’s spring, and the season for concerts. One of the orchestras that I joined when I moved to California, the South Bay Philharmonic (SBP), turned 10 years old this spring. Formerly known as the Hewlett-Packard Symphony, it is now an independent group, with a few members remaining from the old HP days. (I don’t work for HP, so I’m happy about the transition).
One of my favorite things about playing in the SBP is the opportunity to play chamber music at a high level. With SBP chamber music, I’ve explored classics of the repertoire including the Dvorak “American” viola Quintet and Schubert’s famous Cello Quintet and “Death and the Maiden” Quartet. For this concert, we tried something new, a movement from the Florence Price String Quartet in G.
Florence Price is not as well-known as Dvorak or Schubert. She was an African-American composer who lived in the first half of the 20th century. She passed away suddenly in 1953 and in the confusion surrounding her death, many of her manuscripts were lost, only to be rediscovered in 2009 in an abandoned house that had once been Price’s summer home.
I traveled to Sacramento in March to hear Er-Gene Kahng play Price’s violin concerto #2. I also talked with Kahng about the Price string quartets, and obtained the sheet music for the String Quartet in G. This recording is of the Second Movement, the Andante Moderato. Like the Dvorak quintet, it has two contrasting sections, in this case a lyrical opening and a jazzy middle. Like the concerto, it is sunnier than I expected, and the lyrical section evokes the beauty of the South.
I love hearing more about women composers, K.L. I live in Boston and am lucky to have access to an amazing chamber group. I just interviewed the flutist on my blog.
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I used to live in the Boston area myself! (Belmont, just west of Cambridge). I played chamber music with people I met in the Arlington Philharmonic, the orchestra I played in there. I have been really fortunate to meet wonderful chamber music partners through community orchestras. 🎻
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Thanks for sharing. A lovely performance of a beautiful work by a woman cmposer who deserves more recognition for her work. I enjoyed it very much, and yes, it does evoke the South, much as Dvorak’s American Symphony does… Sandra Ortiz
“I care not for your wretched violins.”
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Sandra, check out some of Er-Gene Kahng’s recordings on YouTube for more Florence Price. Here is the violin concerto #2, not the performance I heard, which was with the Camellia Symphony, but with the Arkansas Symphony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2hyjUzgwg8
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