Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Charles Kaufmann: 'here is John McLaughlin Williams version of Keep me from sinking down' on YouTube

[John McLaughlin Williams, violin and Dr. Linette Popov-Park, piano]

Yesterday we posted "Charles Kaufmann: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor now has his own Facebook page."   Charles Kaufmann, Artistic Director of The Longfellow Chorus, replies:

Thanks, Bill. In case you haven't seen this, here is John McLaughlin Williams version of Keep me from sinking down:

Coleridge-Taylor: Keep Me From Sinking Down - John McLaughlin Williams [YouTube (5:32)]   


Charles Kaufmann

Grammy-winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams is also an accomplished performer whose performances and recordings include violin, piano and harpsichord.  He writes of Keep Me From Sinking Down and this 2008 performance at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan, uploaded to YouTube August 13, 2012:

          Published on Aug 13, 2012 by
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's setting for violin and orchestra of the Negro spiritual "Keep Me From Sinking Down" was written in 1911 for the American violinist Maud Powell, who was also the dedicatee of the composer's (at that time unfinished) Violin Concerto. Powell premiered it virtually immediately, after which the work (which was never published) fell into complete obscurity until I gave the first modern performance of the original violin and orchestra version on December 2, 2011 with the Ypsilanti Symphony, conducted by Adam Riccinto. The present performance of the composer's violin and piano reduction is from a 2008 concert done with the eminent pianist Dr. Linette Popov-Parks of Madonna University. 

I've performed the work with piano accompaniment many times since receiving the reduction and full score from William Thomas in 1996. (Thomas is the founder of the Coleridge Ensemble and the producer of the world premiere recordings of Coleridge-Taylor's Nonet, Fantasiestücke and Five Negro Melodies for Piano Trio.) I set to work immediately to create new parts from this score using Finale, which I finally got to use last year.

The work itself is a luminous re-imagining of the original melody. Coleridge-Taylor lifts it from its spiritual origins and plants it firmly within the concert hall aesthetic by using the tune as subject for a series of little variations contained within the framework of simple ABA form. He employs nothing jazzy or modal, yet he subtly underlines the inherent beauty in the melody through creative harmony and modulation. The overall effect is one of endless melody and rapt poetry. While "Keep Me From Sinking Down" is not one of the composer's more ambitious works, it is without doubt one of his loveliest.

"Keep Me From Sinking Down" for Violin & Piano by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
John McLaughlin Williams - Violin
Dr. Linette Popov-Parks - Piano

[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. We are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the U.K., www.SCTF.org.uk]

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