Rowing: Little Concert Waltz

The surviving Florence Price autographs reveal that she had a fondness for lilting, sparkling waltzes — works such as Rainbow Waltz, Summertime Waltz, Waltz of the Spring Maid, and Waltzing on a Sunbeam, among others. Rowing is one such work. It showcases Price's gifts as melodist in two contrasting ways: the A section (mm. 9-40) tosses graceful, rapid scales around from register to register in quick alternation, while the B section (mm. 41-72) features slower and more lyrical melodies. Although the work's genre largely discourages the sort of sophisticated harmonic explorations that characterize much of Price's other piano music, passages such as mm. 30-37 bespeak Price's ability to add subtle harmonic interest even in contexts in which melodic and rhythmic interests predominate — in this case, the joyful rhythms of the waltz.

— John Michael Cooper