Program I: First Impressions

At the age of 17 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor became fascinated by the music of Dvořák, with its American and African-American influences. At 19 he heard Brahms’s landmark Clarinet Quintet, and immediately set to work on his own, which is filled with lush, youthful extravagance, and—like much of his music—incorporates traditions from both his African and English heritage. Ravel’s highly original Piano Trio is an exquisite work of consummate lightness ...