Cleveland Orchestra performs the music of George Walker
Cleveland Orchestra \u2014 Walker: Antifonys, Lilacs, Sinfonias Nos. 4 & 5 (Cleveland Orchestra) Jump to giveaway form
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New Classical Tracks - Eliesha Nelson - Walker
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\u201cOf course, it was important and meaningful for me to play a Black American composer,\u201d said Eliesha Nelson who has been a violist with the Cleveland Orchestra for more than 20 years.
She talked about the orchestra\u2019s release, Walker: Antifonys, Lilacs, Sinfonias Nos. 4 & 5, which is also the first time they have recorded the music of George Walker.\xa0
\u201cThey're not that many Black violists in a major orchestra, and to have an African American tell their story through their words and pen is so meaningful to be a part of, \u201c she said. Nelson had the pleasure of meeting George Walker a few times after he asked her to play his viola sonata with him. That experience reinforced her enthusiasm for him and his music.
\u201cHe's one of my musical icons. I so respect him in so many ways. He's just brilliant. He started college when he was 14 \u2014 got into Curtis after he graduated from Oberlin. His music is thorny, but there's a lot of beauty in it as well,\u201d Nelson said about Walker.
\u201cHe was very serious, and he wasn't one to joke around and try to make people feel good or pacify them. He just said things as he saw them and his music reflects that. He won a Pulitzer Prize for the piece Lilacs, which appears on this recording. That was in 1996. And even then, it was still difficult for him to get any traction with getting commissions or getting his music performed. That seems so heartbreaking to me,\u201d she said about his career after winning the Pulitzer Prize. \u201cHe wrote about how winning that prize didn't do anything for him. No major orchestra in this country offered to play that piece or any piece he wrote. Basically, it was youth orchestras and smaller community orchestras that played his music.\u201d
Nelson said she hopes the Cleveland Orchestra\u2019s album brings to light how wonderful a composer Walker is.
\u201cAnd hopefully, more people will start playing his music so it will become part of the canon.\u201d
Watch now
To hear the rest of my conversation, click on the extended interview above, or\xa0download the extended podcast on iTunes\xa0or wherever you get your podcasts.
Giveaway
Time For Three New Classical Tracks Giveaway
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Resources
The Cleveland Orchestra \u2014 Walker: Antifonys, Lilacs, Sinfonias Nos. 4 & 5 (The Cleveland Orchestra store)
The Cleveland Orchestra \u2014 Walker: Antifonys, Lilacs, Sinfonias Nos. 4 & 5 (Amazon)
The Cleveland Orchestra (official site)