George Walker

[Mark Stryker]

Ethan Iverson has writen an in-depth interview with George Walker, the first African-American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music (1996) that dissects in detail a number of his works. I contribute a guest post that anthologizes/digests a number of my own pieces from the Detroit Free Press that touch on Walker's music and/or issues related to black classical composers. Ethan also has sidebar about Walker's compelling memoir. http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/interview-with-george-walker.html

[Mark Stryker]

I spoke earlier this week with George Walker, whose Violin Concerto will be performed by the Detroit Symphony this weekend. An all-black composer program: Walker, Dawson, Still, Ellington, more. At 92, Walker is traveling to Detroit for the performances.

http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/03/03/george-walker-classical-roots-dso/24332241/

[Larry Kart]

Have acquired a number of Walker CDs because of that DTM post-interview and your pieces, Mark, and am intrigued by what I hear (I'd heard some Walker before). One of the things about many (maybe all?) of his works that I now know that is most striking and pleasing to me is a quality that's hard for me to quantify: the rhythms of engagement-disengagement in his music and/or the rate at which new material is introduced. Of course, all music does this -- begins somewhere, goes somewhere/someplace else -- but Walker somehow and some way subtly places this process (so it seems to me) in the foreground, makes it a near dominant aesthetic principle. Not that in his works the rhythms with which new material is introduced/move onto are at all blatant/in your face -- it's just that one begins to feel a frequent sense of at once stimulating, challenging, pleasurable and always logical once experienced "Oh, now we're here?" change, with the accumulation of these changes (not quite the right term -- perhaps something in between "changes" and "surprises," though again they don't jump out at you; you're just "here" and then you're "there") eventually becoming the primary language element of the music. I suppose Haydn might be a possible point of comparison.

[Mark Stryker]

Not sure exactly what specifically is causing you to feel or hear the music as you are, except to note that I agree with you. The unforced inevitability you describe may simply be a function of a composer who really knows his craft and combines that with sharp intuition. Would also note that Walker is VERY conscious of counterpoint -- he told me most young composers (remember he's 92) don't understand the implications and power of contrapuntal writing and thinking. He is also very found of the Variation form so he's gotten really good over the years and getting from point A to point B with a smooth efficiency.

[Mark Stryker]

Sad to report that Walker died Thursday after a fall at home. He was 96.

[JSngry]

RIP.

And his sister recently passed as well.

[paul secor]

NY Times obituary:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/obituaries/george-walker-dead.html

[JSngry]

and one for his sister, of whom I was not aware until her passing:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/obituaries/frances-walker-slocum-94-pioneering-pianist-and-teacher-dies.html

Attention should be paid to both. Better late than never.

[Larry Kart]

Fascinating composer.