Florence Price: Symphonies 1 & 3— Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Deutsche Gram)
The Philadelphia Orchestra preceded this recording with a virtual performance of Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 in November 2020. At the time, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin told The Philadelphia Inquirer of the orchestra’s plans for Price’s music: “We’ll play all of her symphonies in the next few seasons. The idea is that we’ll start a real Florence Price project with concertos and symphonies and other works. It’s long overdue that we restore her to the place that she holds in the history of American music.” The orchestra followed with virtual concerts of her Symphony No. 3 in December 2020 (to be repeated next month) and her Piano Concerto in February 2021. (Blossom Music Center audiences may remember that Price’s Concerto helped open last summer’s season.) It turns out that Florence Price won the Wanamaker Foundation Award in 1933 for her First Symphony, an honor announced at Philadelphia’s immense John Wanamaker Department Store (known not only for its wares but for its multi-story pipe organ). Now a Macy's, it is located a short distance from Verizon Hall, where the Philadelphia Orchestra performed and recorded her symphonies almost 90 years later.