American composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson died of cancer in 2004, in his early 70s, and judging from this disc his is a voice well worth investigating. Although clearly inspired by his African-American heritage, on the audible evidence it won’t do to make too much of this. The early Sinfonietta No. 1 for Strings (1955) recalls the kind of music that, say, Tippett was writing at about the same time (think of his Concerto for Double String Orchestra). The fourth-based harmony, the tight formal control, and the neo-classical idiom all put Perkinson squarely in the mainstream of contemporary tonal composition, mid-20th century. Grass, subtitled a “Poem for Piano, Strings, and Percussion”, adapts a more fluid formal approach, but the idiom is recognizably similar.
The remaining pieces are chamber works. Quartet No. 1 is allegedly based on the Negro spiritual “Calvary”, but the tune isn’t quoted extensively and the piece shares a similarly concise, three-movement form as the Sinfonietta. Both Blue/s Forms for Solo Violin and Lamentations for solo cello, based on Black/folk songs (including a Billings-like “Fuguing tune” and another paraphrase of “Calvary”), are welcome additions to the repertoire for solo strings and would make excellent concert novelties. So, for that matter, would the Louisiana Blues Strut, here given a lively performance by violinist Ashley Horne (Sanford Allen is the very capable solo violinist in Blue/s Forms).
In fact, all of the performances are excellent, from Paul Freeman’s Chicago Sinfonietta and cellist Tahira Whittington, to the three musicians (including Allen) offering a loving performance of Perkinson’s last musical thoughts–a brief movement for string trio left incomplete at his death. Indeed, my only reservation concerning this release, beyond a touch of roughness in the tone of the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble Quartet, stems from the fact that the mixture of orchestral and chamber music, though admirably designed to showcase the composer, may not strike all listeners as suitable for continuous playing. Similarly, the sonics, while excellent from piece to piece, understandably offer changing perspectives from orchestral to chamber works. But don’t let these small reservations prevent you from sampling this most welcome tribute.
