William Grant Still (1895–1978)
Can’t You Line ’Em (1940)
Three Visions – No 2 Summerland (1936)
Quit Dat Fool’nish (1935)
Pastorela (1946)
American Suite (c. 1918)
Fanfare for the 99th Fighter Squadron (1945)
Serenade (1957)
Violin Suite (1943)
Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius (1965)
Zina Schiff (violin)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Avlana Eisenberg
rec. 2018, Glasgow, UK
NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS 8.559867 [60]
I noted in a review of Still’s Symphonies Nos 2 and 3 ten years ago: ‘For much of his life William Grant Still was invariably referred to as the “Dean of African-American Composers”.’ Today he can be seen simply as one of those composers who established an independent American music. His music is sometimes sentimental but it is always vivid and warm-hearted.
Through the years, Naxos has done well by Still: this is the fifth disc devoted entirely to his music. Previous discs other than that I already mentioned contain Symphony No 1 (review), Symphonies Nos 4 and 5 (review ~ review), and a goodly selection of his piano music (review). All pieces on this disc are world premieres, either of the works themselves or of the version recorded here. It is also a mother/daughter effort. The prominent violinist Zina Schiff is accompanied by the RSNO conducted by her daughter Avlana Eisenstein, music director of the Boston Chamber Symphony (in which Zina Schiff is also one of the violinists).
The small pieces Can’t you line ‘em and Quit Dat Fool’nish show two very different aspects of Still’s personality. The first piece is based on an African-American folk ballad sung by workers “lining up” railroad ties, foreshadowing Copland’s John Henry. (If you wish to see “lining up” and hear Still’s piece in a multi-media presentation, the Boston Chamber Symphony website has a link to a YouTube video.) The second piece is an amusing portrait of the composer’s dog Shep, who could be described as a Los Angeles counterpart to Dan in Elgar’s Enigma Variations. More serious is Summerland (for piano, here arranged for violin and orchestra), the composer’s picture of Heaven. It synthesizes the various aspects of Still’s musical personality in a comprehensive but heart-felt manner.
On my first encounter with the American Suite, I expected an essay in Still’s African-American style but it actually belongs to the Indianist School. That was a movement at the turn of the twentieth century which sought to bring elements of Native American music to classical compositions. The suite is quite convincing. It demonstrates that even in his early 20s Still was a master of orchestral color; that talent would serve him well in his later work for films and television. The same ability is evident in the two accolades: the Fanfare, a noble tribute to the famous Tuskegee Airmen, and the Threnody, in which the composer ably combines Sibelius’s style with his own.
One of Still’s best-known works is the Suite for Violin and Piano, written for his friend, the violinist Louis Kaufman. Zina Schiff plays the version for violin and orchestra, which increases the work’s intensity, giving it almost the heft of a violin concerto. The suite is based on art-works by three African-Americans: Richmond Barthé, Sargent Johnson and Augusta Savage. The first movement, African Dancer, is brisk and quite evocative. Mother and Child is one of Still’s most moving creations, an American Pietà. The enjoyable Gamin is very different.
Pastorella was also written for Louis Kaufman as a work for violin and piano. It is heard on this disc in the version for violin and orchestra. It is a wonderful evocation of the shifting hues of a California landscape, and is more clear-cut than many of Still’s works. For me, it is the highlight of the program.
Zina Schiff met Still when she was a young music student, and has been interested in his music ever since. She communicates these feelings perfectly in her performances here. She seems to have transmitted them to her daughter, who conducts the RNSO completely idiomatically. The excellent liner notes are also a mother/daughter collaborative effort. All around, this is a fine addition to the Still discography.
William Kreindler
Previous review: Rob Barnett
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