Negro Folk Symphony (1934)
(Critical Performance Edition)

Dawson's symphony is emotionally charged. He said he wasn't out to imitate Beethoven or Brahms but wanted those who heard it to know that it was, "unmistakably not the work of a white man." Dawson found inspiration for the piece in traditional spirituals. In the third movement, he quotes "Hallelujah, Lord, I've Been Down Into The Sea"…

But the heart of Dawson's symphony does not draw from a spiritual. It's the central movement titled "Hope In The Night." Dawson gives the mournful theme to the English horn. He described it as, quote, "the humdrum life of a people whose bodies were baked by the sun and lashed with the whip"…

There are a lot of questions about diversity and what American orchestras should be performing these days. An engaging album like this offers some answers.

The opening movement, ‘The Bond of Africa’, immediately recalls new North American music in the 1930’s—highly imaginative and fertile in melodic material and spiced with quotes from powerful Negro spirituals. The second movement (Hope in the Night) is even more potent as it draws to its climatic conclusion with heavy brass and percussion. The short finale introduces the world of popular and emotive spirituals that will be recognised in North America…

I found the work masterful on so many levels that it’s difficult to describe. Of course, we are hearing the revised version of 30 years later, by which point Dawson had traveled to seven countries in West Africa, from which he garnered authentic African themes and especially rhythms which he used to infuse the music, but a work of genius is a work of genius.

Mr.Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony took the house by storm. The custom of no applause during a symphony gave way after the second movement to a spontaneous outburst that brought the orchestra to its feet, and at the end the enthusiasm was so great that Mr. Dawson was called to the stage repeatedly to bow his acknowledgements.