Description

Originally released in 1992, this recording was re-issued by popular demand. Critic James H. North wrote of the original release in Fanfare , “…a nostalgic look at the music of black composers… Monica Gaylord… has a beautiful touch for these winning works and when it comes to Coleridge-Taylor’s heroic final coda, she peals forth bronze thunder; if this were a live recital, it would bring down the house. The pianist also writes the notes, in which she shows herself to be a knowledgeable historian and a fine writer. A fine recording rounds out the assets of this lovely disc.”  

And David Wright added in The Musical Times, “…excellent performances throughout”  while R. Everett-Green said in The Globe and Mail (Toronto),  “…a fine pianist, and she plays this repertoire with love and conviction.”

PIANO MUSIC BY WILLIAM GRANT STILL AND OTHER BLACK COMPOSERS.  William Grant Still: Three Visions: Dark Horsemen, Summerland, Radiant Pinnacle; Howard Swanson: The Cuckoo; Robert Nathaniel Dett: In The Bottoms: Prelude: Night, His Song, Honey, Barcarolle: Morning, Juba Dance; Ulysses Kay: Invention in G minor, Invention in A minor, Invention in C major; John Wesley Work, Jr.: Big Bunch of Roses; William Grant Still: Seven Traceries: Cloud Cradles, Mystic Pool, Muted Lughter, Out of the Silence, Woven Silver, Wailing Dawn, A Bit of Wit; Oscar Peterson: The Gentle Waltz (arr. D. McErlain); Duke Ellington: Come Sunday (arr. D. McErlain); Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Valse-Suite, Opus 71: Allegro molto, Andante, Allegro assai. Monica Gaylord, piano.

Total Time: 77:08. (DDD) UPC # 017685-07372-4.