George Walker: Antifonys; Sinfonia No. 4 "Strands"; Lilacs; Sinfonia No. 5 "Visions"

by Franz Welser-Moest, Cleveland Orchestra

Overview

George Walker came of age during the era of High Modernism, and despite shifting values in the worlds of both African American music and concert music more generally, he never abandoned that mode. Remarkably, two of the works here (the Sinfonia No. 4 and Sinfonia No. 5) were composed during his tenth decade. His style is densely contrapuntal, atonal, and generally thorny; Cleveland Orchestra conductor Franz Welser-Moest has said that it is "tricky, it's difficult, it's demanding, it's challenging, and there is an intensity and a real voice which I enjoy enormously." Welser-Moest does the music justice with edgy performances that do not foreclose a certain Romantic impulse in Lilacs, Walker's soprano-and-orchestra setting of Walt Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," and allows ample space for the deeply woven quotations of African-American vernacular material. The live recording in Cleveland's Severance Hall sounds great, and everywhere there is a sense of the kind of deep commitment necessary to put this difficult music across. The Cleveland Orchestra's physical packaging, with attractive graphics and substantial essays on each piece, is presented in a children's book-sized package. It will not fit on a CD shelf, but it is an interesting affirmation by the orchestra of the value of the physical artifact (digital though it may be) in an era of streaming music. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	11/04/2022
Label:	Cleveland Orchestra
UPC:	0810042320529
Rank:	13416

Tracks

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"

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Franz Welser-Moest   Primary Artist,Conductor
Cleveland Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Latonia Moore   Soprano (Vocal)

Technical Credits

George Walker   Composer
Ian Walker   Liner Notes,Photography,Photo Courtesy
Elaine Martone   Recording Producer
Hugh MacDonald   Liner Notes
Frank Schramm   Photography
Gregory Walker   Liner Notes
Roger Mastroianni   Photography
Mark Clague   Liner Notes
Ilya Gidalevich   Producer
David Millinger   Project Manager,Production Manager
Horace J. Maxile Jr.   Liner Notes
Jennifer Nulsen   Mastering Engineer
Gintas Norvila   Engineer,Mixing Engineer,Editing Engineer
Julie Stapf   Producer
Ross Binnie   Producer
Mark Williams   Producer
Amanda Angel   Liner Notes
Judy Barabas   Design,Art Direction
Coco Jourdana   Photography
Gus Skinas   Authoring