Still: Songs & Piano Music Featured in the New York Times

Excerpt:

“William Grant Still isn’t exactly unknown; he is paid something like due attention in surveys of Black composition. But what about sustained attention? That’s been harder to come by.

I thought about this recently, after hearing his Fourth Symphony performed by the New York Philharmonic. Right after enjoying that performance, I immediately recalled this recent album, a focused, hourlong look at Still’s songs. The pianist Hartmut Höll brings across the martial energy of “Rising Tide” and the cynical harmonic edges of the accompaniment in a tune like “Parted” (from “Songs of Separation”). He throws in three brief solo piano works, too.

The mezzo-soprano Yajie Zhang deploys precise intonation in “From the Hearts of Women,” and her “Midtide” is particularly affecting, full of the pensive feeling Still dictates. But the baritone Gabriel Rollinson is the real star here. He has a healthy, fast vibrato — plus a true calling for Still’s mature, “universal” aesthetic, which sought to bridge the music of Europe and the United States. Rollinson sings the French of the “Poème” just as authoritatively as he does the text of a spiritual in “Here’s One,” during which he contrasts the conclusion of a ringing phrase with a disarming movement into vocal smoothness. He knows how to keep these interpretations vital.”

SETH COLTER WALLS, The New York Times

Published: Oct. 31st, 2024

Listen: Spotify / Youtube / Apple Music / Amazon / CD purchase (EU)