Out of the Silence: A Celebration of Music Program One

A New York Times and Los Angeles Times Labor Day Weekend Critic's Pick! 
 

“Out of the Silence” opens with two works by the great William Grant Still. The first African-American to have a symphony performed by a major U.S. orchestra, and the subject of a 2009 retrospective curated and conducted by Botstein at Lincoln Center, Still is represented by his meditative miniature Out of the Silence, from Seven Traceries and the evocative tone poem Serenade.

Program One also features a piece by one of Nadia Boulanger’s many distinguished students: the elegiac Lyric for Strings by George Walker, the first African-American winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music and “one of the greatest composers of our time” (Fanfare magazine).

The concert concludes with TŌN’s account of the exuberant String Symphony No. 8 by Felix Mendelssohn, subject of the Bard Music Festival’s second season in 1991.

The Orchestra Now, conducted by Leon Botstein and James Bagwell

William Grant Still (1895–1978)
Out of the Silence, from Seven Traceries (1939)*
Serenade (1957) *
*These works are not included in the archival recording due to copyright restrictions. 

George Walker (1922–2018)
Lyric for Strings (1946)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47)
String Symphony No. 8 in D Major (1823)
Adagio e grave—Allegro
Adagio
Menuetto—Trio: Presto
Allegro molto