Gil Shaham / Virginia Symphony Orchestra - Coleridge-Taylor Dvorak Stewart [CD]

This new recording brings together violinist Gil Shaham, conductor Eric Jacobsen, and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in a program exploring the violin concerto as a vehicle for cultural memory and continuity. The album pairs Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80, and Antonín Dvorák's Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, with the world-premiere recording of "F. Harper," from The Famous People by Curtis Stewart. Coleridge-Taylor's concerto reveals a Romantic voice shaped by lyricism and rhythmic vitality, while Dvorák's work reflects folk influence and communal musical expression. Stewart's F. Harper responds through a contemporary lens, engaging questions of naming, lineage, and identity. Inspired by the layered meanings of "Slavonic," the work draws parallels between European histories of enslavement and the ways Black Americans continue to shape pride and cultural legacy today. Together, these works connect past and present through sound.