It’s a national disgrace that there hasn’t been a complete cycle of the symphonic music of William Grant Still. It’s disgraceful not because Still was one of our first great African-American composers, but because he was an exceptionally fine composer, period. His music partakes of the same stylistic mixture of classical and jazz influences as Gershwin’s, and it’s amazing that while Gershwin’s mere handful of orchestral scores are played to death, no one has turned to Still for something equally fine and infinitely less hackneyed. To the extent that any of his music is well known, the Afro-American Symphony is the stand-out piece, and it’s given a good performance by Karl Krueger and the Royal Philharmonic. Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony is one of those “From the New World” Symphony clones that English and American composers churned out in the wake of Dvorák’s smash hit, and it’s no masterpiece. But that doesn’t justify the cuts that Krueger makes in the outer movements. The piece has charm, and Neeme Järvi’s complete version on Chandos serves the music with more respect, more energy, and in better sound. Järvi also has recorded two of Still’s four symphonies, and if you have those recordings, then this one is superfluous. [10/18/1999]
