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Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson chose to be an eclectic rather than an ethnic composer. Sinfonietta for Strings and Grass, the opening works on this “Celebration” CD, are vigorous specimens of 50s neoclassicism warmed in their slow sections by string writing reminiscent of Barber's.
Perkinson does not neglect his African-American heritage. The Quartet 1, ‘Blues Forms’ for solo violin, and Lamentations, a Black/Folk Song Suite for cello, all effectively fuse blues and jazz motifs with classical or Bachian structures. The most overtly “black” of these is ‘Louisiana Blues Strut’ for solo violin. Carter Brey, Sanford Allen, Ashley Horne, Joseph Joubert, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble Quartet all deliver eloquent performances. This is a worthy recording: 79 minutes of varied, expressive music by an undervalued composer.
Copyright © 2006 American Record Guide
This posthumous anthology consisting of selections from 50 years of work by composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932–2004) includes six world premieres—that is to say, it took 50 years for this man’s lifetime output to be recognized. Perhaps that is not so shocking. After all, how easy was it for a black man in the 1950s to obtain a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music, and compose his first major work at the age of 22 within the confines of a segregated society? But Perkinson, the namesake of black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912), didn’t consider himself generically a black composer. Whether or not he allowed himself to be typecast as an ethnic artist, Perkinson’s interpretation of white, WASP, and Western musical convention is spiked with vintage blues and jazz. His music is, therefore, in an uncanny and paradoxical way, the reverse of the cultural plundering associated with Gershwin’s and Dvorák’s musical appropriations. Consequently, if Perkinson’s music isn’t especially innovative, we shouldn’t be surprised that a victim of discrimination and ghettoization would not choose to further isolate himself by throwing 12-tone rows into the mix. After all, experimentation is the spawn of prosperity, not the privilege of hardship.
Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No.1 for strings, composed in 1955, might have been considered, if composed by a young Caucasian, the work of a wunderkind. The precocious piece is an homage to Bach, and throughout his life Perkinson returned to fugal writing as a religious rite of appreciation for the German master. Two years later, Perkinson began to infiltrate into his technique the echoes of his ancestor slaves. Quartet No. 1, based on “Calvary” (Negro Spiritual) weaves together the dualism of his segregated world into one lucid harmonious dream.
The next selection on the disc was composed 20 years later. One wonders what happened in the intervening years, though we know that Perkinson had the opportunity to work with Leonard Bernstein, Max Roach, Alvin Ailey, Jerome Robbins, Marvin Gaye, and Harry Belafonte. He also co-founded and conducted the Symphony of the New World. Blue/s Forms for solo violin (1972) is a deep reverie of black experience as seen through the filter of Paganiniesque writing. Sanford Allen plays it with tender feeling. Equally luscious is Lamentations, a black/folk song suite for solo cello, played by Tahira Whittington.
Just before his death, Perkinson composed the last selection on the disc, Movement for String Trio. It is a profoundly sweet, sad, Barberesque, self-requiem for a man who should have been heard, and one hopes will be heard now—though he won’t be here to enjoy the long overdue recognition.
Copyright © 2006 Fanfare Magazine
"It is very difficult," said the late Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) in answer to an interviewer's question, "to say what black music really is." Therein lies the dilemma for the modern African-American composer who cannot deny his rich cultural heritage but whose goals transcend that immediate heritage to embrace the whole world of the classics.
To be sure, Perkinson forsake the groves of Academe to make his way in the world as a practicing musician. He wrote arrangements for popular and jazz artists like Marvin Gaye, Donald Byrd, and Harry Belafonte, and he was the pianist of Max Roach's quartet in 1964-65. He uses the language of the blues in his Blue/s Forms for Solo Violin (1972) and the melody of the Negro spiritual "Calvary" to provide a rich source of motives and intervals for counterpoint in his Quartet No. 1 (1956) and the third movement of his Black/Folk Song Suite for Solo Cello (1973). On the other hand, if I played Perkinson's Sinfonietta No. 1 for Strings (1954) or his Grass: Poem for Piano, Strings and Percussion (1956) for you, composer unknown, and asked you what modern "Scandinavian" we were listening to, you might be none the wiser.
For Perkinson was one of the select number of 20th century composers who looked back most often to Johann Sebastian Bach for inspiration. (Not so far a stretch for CTP, since today's jazz musician would find himself more at home in the world of Bach than he would most classical music since that time. Just note the face of the average classical musician if you ask him to "realize" a basso continuo - the jazz artist does the equivalent every day - and you will see what I mean.) Perkinson's music exhibits superb clarity of thought in line and counterpoint. He loves to explore the ambiguity between major and minor modes created by the so-called "blues notes," the lowered thirds and sevenths. The effect of his music is honest and moving. Movement for String Trio (2004), a deathbed composition, is, at 3:56, a perfect elegy in a small compass.
The present Cedille offering, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: A Celebration, showcases the talents of violinists Sanford Allen and Ashley Horne, violist Jesse Levine, and cellists Tahirah Whittington and Carter Brey, and the Chicago Sinfonietta under Paul Freeman. Some outstanding talents also went into the recording team: James Ginsburg and Judith Sherman were the producers, Sherman and Bill Maylone the engineers. How overdue this tribute is, may be gauged by the fact that this is the first time I have encountered the composer since I began as a reviewer in 1982.
Copyright © 2005 Atlanta Audio Society
