"From the Black Belt" Suite - William Grant Still

Westchester Symphony Orchestra conducted by Siegfried Landau. I - Li'l Scamp: 0:00 II - Honeysuckle: 0:10 III - Dance: 3:58 IV - Mah Bones is Creakin: 4:31 V - Blue: 4:47 VI - Brown girl: 7:21 VII - Clap Yo’ Han’s: 10:06 Still's "From the Black Belt" was composed in 1926, while the composer was in Harlem working as a musician and arranger. It was sucessfully premiered in by the Barrère Ensemble in New York in March 20 of 1927. It is a suite composed of short (some extremely so) descriptive vignettes and scored for a chamber orchestra. A critic remarked the following after a performance in 1934: "This genial, soft-spoken Negro has proved himself a leader in the movement to write music that is not merely cerebral, that has no fear of melody, that begins with the definite intention of pleasing his hearers. His suite was of seven short movements, but their ingratiating tunes and rhythms had the audience asking for a repetition, and that at the end of a long concert." The "Black belt" refers to a region in the southern United States, distinguished by the color of its fertile soil. It was an area whose rich economy was based on cotton and tobacco plantations, controlled by rich white people and worked by poor black laborers. Still’s piece is presumably a musical representation of these laborers. The first movement is extremely short, being descriped by the composer with the folloing words: "If one were to base his judgment on the volume of sound, he would think this little fellow, who delights in playing childish pranks, a big scamp. But the aptness of the title is determined by the brevity of the piece rather than by the volume of sound." The second movement begins with a widely lyrical theme on the strings, derived from blues and musical suggestion of the saccharine odor of the honeysuckle. The woods take the theme before it is briefly developed. The strings recapitulate the theme, leading us to a peaceful and sweet coda. The third movement consist a short and rhythmic dance, with the flute leading the rest of the orchestra. The fourth movement, also very short, opens with a massive tutti. An old man, afflicted with rheumatism, complains loudly of his creaking bones. The fifth movement begins with a lyrical solo of the flute, which suggests the "blues" songs of the southern Negro. The music is contemplative and delicate. The flute solo is repeated, leading a lyrical development. The sixth movement opens with a romantic main theme, a tone picture of a lovely mulatto girl. As with previous movements, it is lyrically developed. It ends with a calm, glowing coda. The seventh movement begins with a lively theme presented by strings and muted trumpet, representing the participants in a dancing game for children clap their hands. The music is rhythmic and colourful, but it soon leads to a reflective coda. Picture: "Mickey Dees" (1987) by the Afro-American artist Michael Ellison. Musical analysis written by myself. Sources: https://bit.ly/3oSagwv and https://bit.ly/3oPS6eJ