WorldView Episode 46: Robert Nathaniel Dett & Jeffrey Mumford
In addition to featuring only the second piece with a saxophone soloist heard on this show, WorldView episode forty-six includes works written by two distinct North American composers: Robert Nathaniel Dett and Jeffrey Mumford.
Born in Ontario, Canada, in 1882, Robert Nathaniel Dett was a pioneer in compositional circles all of his life. A descendant of escaped slaves, Dett spent much of his young life in Canada before moving to the United States at age eleven. He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he was exposed to artists such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (WorldView episode 21) and Antonin Dvorak (episode 9). When Dett graduated in 1908, he was the first Black American to earn a Bachelor of Music degree from the Conservatory. He began seriously composing several years later, predominantly in the Romantic style; however, Dett also heavily emphasized the musical influences of African Americans in his works. Though he is less well known among modern-day compositional circles, Dett was a trailblazer and prominent artist of his time. This episode of WorldView begins with Dett’s “In the Bottoms Suite”, performed by pianist William Chapman Nyaho. It includes one of his most famous compositions, the movement “Dance (Juba)”.
The second composer played in this hour of WorldView is 67-year-old Jeffrey Mumford. A former composer-in-residence at the Oberlin Conservatory, the New York Times has described his compositions as “rigorous” and having “raw passion”. He has been commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic and the Library of Congress, and his modern works have been performed across the country by the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and more. In this episode, violist Eliesha Nelson performs Mumfrod’s “Wending” from the album Permutations.
WorldView Episode Forty-Six Playlist:
Robert Nathaniel DETT, “In the Bottoms Suite”, {William Chapman Nyaho (pf)} - MSR Classics
Jeffrey MUMFORD, “Wending”, {Eliesha Nelson (vla)} - Sono Luminus
Howard QUILLING, “Sonata No. 2”, {Max Lifchitz (pf)} - North/South Recordings
Michael COLGRASS, “Dream Dancer”, {Toronto Wind Orchestra, Tony Gomes, Wallace Halladay (sax)} - Naxos
WorldView is a classical music radio show featuring composers from everywhere in the world - except Western Europe. Tune in to hear works by lesser-known artists such as Irving Fine and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and widen your knowledge of classical music. Hinke Younger hosts each week’s episode of WorldView on Mondays at 9AM and 6PM (with a rebroadcast Saturdays at 2PM) on Charlottesvilleclassical.org.