KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ A Concert by the Black Archives Orchestra (May 20, 1978)

Analog Audio

Event Type

Music

Origin

KPFA

Identifier

AM.1978.05.20

Program Length

57 min

Dates

1978-10-03 | broadcast
| 1978-05-20 | created

Description

From a recording made on May 20, 1978, this is the debut concert by the Black Archives Orchestra under the direction of it’s founding conductor, Judith Williams. The concert, which was sponsored by the Oakland Museum Performing Arts Committee (John Patton Jr. coordinator), featured works by a number of composers of African descent, including Howard Swanson, Ulysses Kay, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and William Grant Still. The Black Archives, which varies in size from a small ensemble to a fuller chamber orchestra, depending on the demands of each presented work, was composed of mostly local San Francisco Bay Area musicians.

Genres

20th century classical

Musical Selections

Soundpiece, for brass quintet (1952) (6:54) / Howard Swanson -- Brief Elegy, for oboe and strings (1946) (4:00) / Ulysses Kay -- Quintet, Op. 10, for clarinet and strings [excerpt] (1895) (6:01) / Samuel Coleridge-Taylor -- Death of an Old Seaman [text by Langston Hughes] (2:19) / Cecil Cohen -- Love Song [text by Paul Laurence Dunbar] (c. 1918) (2:06) / Hilbert Earl Stewart -- Night Music, for woodwinds, horn, and strings (1950) (9:42) / Howard Swanson -- Danzas de Panama: Tamborito (3:35) ; Mejorana y Socavon (2:38) ; Punto (4:39) ; Cumbia y Congo (3:08), for string orchestra [based on Panamanian folk themes collected by Elisabeth Waldo] (1948) / William Grant Still

Performers

Jonathan Knight, trumpet (Soundpiece)
John Dilworth, trumpet (Soundpiece)
Curt Tatzner, trombone (Soundpiece)
Chong Kum, tuba (Soundpiece)
Carl Bangs, horn (Soundpiece)
Judith Williams, conductor (Soundpiece ; Brief ; Night ; Danzas)
Black Archives Orchestra (Brief ; Night ; Danzas)
Rami Levin, oboe (Brief)
James Russell, clarinet (Quintet)
Edmund Weingart, violin (Quintet)
Mary Weingart, violin (Quintet)
Ellie Nishi, viola (Quintet)
Joe Herbert, cello (Quintet)
Peter Robinson, baritone (Death ; Love)
Luana Morimoto, piano (Death ; Love)

Subjects

20th century classical
19th century classical
Chamber music
African American composers
Brass quintets (Trumpets (2), horn, trombone, tuba)
Oboe with string orchestra
Quintets (Clarinet, violins (2), viola, cello)
Art songs
Songs (Low voice) with piano
Chamber orchestra music
Instrumental ensembles
String orchestra music