FLORENCE PRICE (1887-1953): Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Symphony No. 4 in D Minor (World Premiere Recording).

Description: Price’s first symphony (1932) was first recorded for Albany Records back in 2011 and African-American musical elements are especially prominent in its mixing with European Romanticism with a strong dose of Dvořák in the first movement. Also striking was the third movement Juba Dance which, as the notes describe it, was “an antebellum slave style [of dance] characterized by complex body percussion (foot stomping, chest patting) and syncopated melodies”. The Fourth of 1945 is in the same style and form - four movements complete with Juba Dance - with jazz elements a stronger presence (“Ellingtonian ‘jungle style’”) than before. Particularly impressive is the extent of development and elaboration in the 15-minute first movement of small bits of an original tune and of a Negro spiritual. Fort Smith Symphony; John Jeter.