Chineke! Orchestra - Coleridge-Taylor (2022) [CD-Rip]

The album features music by the celebrated African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with an appearance by award-winning US violinist Elena Urioste, plus a world premiere recording of a work by Coleridge-Taylor’s daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor.

The release commemorates the 110th anniversary of the composer’s death (1st September 1912). The album includes the famous Violin Concerto in G minor which was originally written for Minnie “Maud” Powell, a champion of music by African-American and female composers, first performed days after the composer’s death. Another highlight is the 1898 African Suite, based on the ground-breaking poetry of the African-American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar, a major influence on Coleridge-Taylor taking inspiration from the ideas of Pan-Africanism.

Executive Producer of Chineke! Records is Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE, Founder, Artistic and Executive Director of the Chineke! Foundation, which supports, inspires and encourages Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians working in the UK and Europe, by providing a platform on which to excel.

Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE says, “Chineke!’s debut concert began with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and it could not be more fitting that we launch our first Chineke! Records album in partnership with Decca with music by the same composer whose music clearly comes straight from the heart. Included is a masterpiece by his daughter Avril. Their glorious music has been silent for too long; some of it never heard, and we promise an album that you will return to over and over again.”

Kevin John Edusei makes a welcome return to conduct Chineke! and the violin soloist is Elena Urioste, a BBC Young Generation artist whose playing has been hailed as portraying in equal parts ‘passion, sensuality, brains and humour (Washington Post).

Tracklist
CD1
01. Othello, Op. 79: I. Dance
02. Othello, Op. 79: II. Children's Intermezzo
03. Othello, Op. 79: III. Funeral March
04. Othello, Op. 79: IV. The Willow Song
05. Othello, Op. 79: V. Military March
06. Sussex Landscape, Op. 27 (world-premier recording)
07. African Suite, Op. 35 (Orch. Chris Cameron): I. Introduction
08. African Suite, Op. 35 (Orch. Chris Cameron): II. A Love Song
09. African Suite, Op. 35 (Orch. Chris Cameron): III. Valse
10. African Suite, Op. 35 (Orch. Chris Cameron): IV. African Dance
11. Ballade in A Minor, Op. 33
12. Petite Suite de Concert, Op. 77: I. Le caprice de Nannette
13. Petite Suite de Concert, Op. 77: II. Demande et réponse
14. Petite Suite de Concert, Op. 77: III. Un sonnet d'amour
15. Petite Suite de Concert, Op. 77: IV. La tarantelle frétillante

CD2
01. Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 80: I. Allegro maestoso
02. Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 80: II. Andante semplice
03. Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 80: III. Allegro molto
04. Romance for Violin, Op. 39
05. Nonet, Op. 2: II. Andante con moto
06. Nonet, Op. 2: I. Allegro energico
07. Nonet, Op. 2: III. Scherzo. Allegro
08. Nonet, Op. 2: IV. Finale. Allegro vivace