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American Heritage | Zoho ZM202008

American Heritage

£13.60

Usually available for despatch within 3-5 working days

Label: Zoho

Cat No: ZM202008

Barcode: 0880956200828

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Instrumental

Release Date: 7th May 2021

Contents

About

Following the success of the Busoni The Visionary series, classical pianist Jeni Slotchiver is humbled to introduce her new album American Heritage. With Southern roots of her own, Slotchiver’s Zoho debut is her homage to the legendary composers preserving traditional American music.

Spanning 125 years, from Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s The Banjo (ca. 1854-5) to Frederic Rzewski’s Down By The Riverside (1979), American Heritage presents piano compositions by composers of concert music, inspired by the melodies, dance rhythms, harmonic inventions and various stylistic elements evocative of the American experience.

Of the eight composers represented, six are of African descent and two of these are women. With the exception of the rich heritage of indigenous people, the largest and most important US folkloric body of work arrived with the first enslaved African people. Spiritual songs, work songs, blues and secular dances evolved throughout plantation life and after emancipation, yielding a rich and ever-expanding African American cultural experience. While tango, ragtime, boogie-woogie, the Charleston, bebop, as well as the polyrhythms of jazz, also owe their foundations and easily recognisable characteristics to suppressed slaves. American Heritage also features popular and traditional US folk songs such as Swanee River and Shenandoah. Both originated as work songs known as African windlass and capstan shanties. The composers featured on American Heritage have a strong affinity for the transformative nature of transcription; they are not resurrecting, they reinvent and create anew. With their deft incorporation of stylistic elements, we are drawn into their craft. Their unique processes lead the listener deeper into the very nature of composing. What was once familiar, is reborn, and we can marvel at the composers’ skill and imagination.

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