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The perfect classical half hour

Half an hour of back-to-back classical music to mark the beginning of Black History Month, including works by Errollyn Wallen, Florence Price, Wynton Marsalis and Duke Ellington.

Marking the beginning of Black History Month, the Classical Mixtape provides half an hour of back to back classical music by black composers from across the last three centuries. Showcasing a wide range of styles and influences, there is jazz and blues infused music by Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis, sitting alongside chamber music by the 17th-century French composer and conductor Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and a well-known piano rag by Scott Joplin. Choral music is provided by the British composer Ken Burton setting words by Paul Laurence Dunbar, the black American son of emancipated slaves. There's a heart-breaking song about grief by William Grant Still, and dance music by Florence Price opens the sequence, which would not be complete without a characteristically quirky take on horseplay by the newly appointed Master of the King's Music, Errollyn Wallen.

Producer: Helen Garrison

10 days left to listen

30 minutes

Music Played

  • Florence Price

    Dances in the Canebrakes (Nimble Feet)

    Music Arranger: William Grant Still. Orchestra: Chicago Sinfonietta. Conductor: Mei-Ann Chen.
    • Project W: Works by Diverse Women Composers.
    • Cedille.
    • 1.
  • Eleanor Alberga

    Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Escape Dance

    Orchestra: The Taliesin Orchestra. Conductor: Peter Ash.
    • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Roald Dahl).
    • Orchid Classics.
    • 18.
  • Duke Ellington

    Black, Brown and Beige: Part V (Come Sunday Interlude)

    Performer: Ray Nance. Performer: Duke Ellington. Orchestra: Duke Ellington Orchestra.
    • COLUMBIA.
  • Scott Joplin

    Maple Leaf Rag

    Performer: Joshua Rifkin.
    • Scott Joplin: Piano Rags: Joshua Rifkin.
    • Elektra Nonesuch.
    • 1.
  • Ken Burton

    A Prayer

    Choir: London Voices. Conductor: Ken Burton.
    • Oxford University Press Music.
  • Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

    Quartet concertant in B flat major Op 15 No 6 (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Arabella String Quartet.
    • Saint-Georges: 6 Quartetto concertans.
    • Naxos.
    • 602.
  • Wynton Marsalis

    Blues (from Violin Concerto in D)

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti. Orchestra: Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Cristian M膬celaru.
    • Decca.
  • Errollyn Wallen

    Lively (Horseplay)

    Ensemble: Continuum. Conductor: Philip Headlam.
    • Wallen: The Girl in my Alphabet.
    • AVIE.
    • 9.
  • William Grant Still

    Grief

    Singer: Lucas Meachem. Performer: Irina Meachem.
    • Rubicon.

Broadcast

  • Tue 1 Oct 2024 19:00

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