Sunday, December 18, 2011

YouTube: 'George Walker: Sonata No. 1 for Piano,' Albany Records TROY117


[George Walker: Sonata No. 1 for Piano (1953); Albany Records TROY117 (1994)]

Michael Bregman manages the YouTube site of Albany Records. He alerts us to the uploading of a number of videos of the piano repertoire of George Walker (b. 1922) a composer and pianist whose website is http://georgetwalker.com/, and who is featured at AfriClassical.com. Here is the first work, GEORGE WALKER: Sonata No. 1 for Piano (1953). The CD is George Walker by Domenico Scarlatti, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin and George Walker (Audio CD – 1995).

Uploaded by AlbanyRecordsUSA on Dec 18, 2011


George Walker, composer and pianist



I Allegro energico
II (@ 07:26) Theme and Six Variations
III (@ 12:20) Allegro con brio

from Albany TROY117 (1994)


“George Walker was born in Washington, DC on June 27, 1922 of West Indian-American parentage. He graduated from high school at the age of 14, attended Oberlin College and the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied piano with Rudolf Serkin and composition with Rosario Scalero. His auspicious debut at Town Hall in 1945 was described in the New York Times as "notable...an authentic talent of marked individuality and fine musical insight...a rare combination of elegance and sincerity...an understanding, a technical competence and a sensitiveness rarely heard at debut recitals." Walker obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Eastman and went on to study in France with Nadia Boulanger on Fulbright and John Hay Whitney Fellowships. His compositions have been played by virtually every major orchestra and chamber orchestra in the United States. This recording uniquely showcases the pianist as composer-composer as pianist as Walker performs his Sonata No. 1.”

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As is its custom, AfriClassical used Twitter to disseminate the title of this post to its 237 followers.  One of the recipients was the South African composer and musician Bongani NdodanaBreen, who has retweeted this post to his 570 followers.


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