MUSIC REVIEW: WILLIAM GRANT STILL – SUMMERLAND
For this review I thought I would choose a classical composer completely unknown to me. And yes, I have to admit that this particular composer’s name appealed to me – Still. Still-ness is something we could all use in a world that seems to be rapidly spinning out of control. I know that I certainly could. In any case, I am glad that this thought led me to discover William Grant Still (1895–1978) and some of his music on the very recently released album, Summerland. As recently in fact as May 27, 2022.
Summerland features a selection of Still’s orchestral music performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Avlana Eisenberg with Zika Schiff (solo violin), who are actually a mother and daughter duo. What stands out straight away about the music is the kernel of optimism, hope and faith it contains, and this despite the difficulties and discrimination Still had to face as an African American classical composer. His success was a testament to his talent and to him as a human being. "With humble thanks to God, the Source of Inspiration”, Still wrote on his scores. And his music is infused with his faith, his love of God and of his heritage and country.
Still wrote close to 200 works, including symphonies, ballets, operas, choral works, art songs, and chamber music, and was part of the Harlem Renaissance. His career was littered with firsts for an African American composer and conductor, and he was the recipient of numerous awards including honorary doctorates (eight) and Guggenheim Fellowships.
The earliest work included on this album is from 1918, “American Suite”, and the latest from 1965, “Threnody in Memory of Jan Sibelius”, but most of the works featured are from the 1940s. This is a period when much of the classical music scene was infested with mechanistic industrial overtones and many classical composers were experimenting with atonality and dissonance. Still’s works on the other hand are strongly anchored in melodic principles and tonal reflections. He often creates evocative ‘visual soundtracks’ and each piece seems to have both time and space to unfold.
The opening track, “Can’t You Line ‘Em”, is American frontier music, leaving you searching for the panoramic shot of a landscape out of a Western from the Golden Age of Hollywood. And for a simpler time when good and evil were clearly defined, as the trumpet announces the triumph of good at the end and puts a smile on your face. “Summerland” (No. 2 of “3 Visions”) follows, and Zika Schiff’s violin enters with a yearning melody. This is music painting, a visual soundtrack which has you imagining stars in a clear sky over a wide prairie. “Quit Dat Fool’nish” ushers in a change of mood and tempo, while “Pastorela” (arranged for violin and orchestra) is once again more sombre in feel. Beautiful lush orchestration provides the background for the solo violin in this piece that sounds like a movement from a violin concerto. The “American Suite”, an early work from 1918, is in three parts, the atmospheric “Indian Love Song”, followed by the toe-tapping rhythms of “Danse”, and ending with “Lament” in which Still’s irrepressible optimism continues to shine through, even here.
The triumphant “Fanfare for the 99th Fighter Squadron” is a stirring tribute to the Black Tuskegee airmen who fought in World War II. “Serenade” follows, another visual painting with clear sections and moods, its calm pastoral unfolding using the colours of the full orchestra.
The “Violin Suite” (arranged for violin and orchestra), again featuring the beautiful impassioned playing of Zika Schiff, is a personal favourite. Its three movements were inspired by and named after three pieces of art by artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Barthé, Johnson and Savage. The first movement, “African Dancer”, returns to driving syncopated rhythms interspersed with more sinuous sections as the violin leads us through the steps of the dance. “Mother and Child” is a lullaby that captures the gentleness and focus of a mother on her child. Schiff’s violin soars in a melody of sustained intensity. “Gamin” returns to syncopated cheeky rhythms rounding out a very satisfying listening experience.
The album concludes with the “Threnody in Memory of Jan Sibelius”, himself a great atmospheric musical painter of the landscapes of Northern Europe whose music bears in this regard a certain affinity to the visual landscapes of Still.
William Grant Still is clearly a true American classic, and this recent release is a good reminder of this fact.