William Levi Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony was one of the big hits of 1934. Premiered by Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra, it was subsequently performed three times at Carnegie Hall and was nationally broadcast on the CBS radio network. For whatever reason, the symphony soon faded into relative obscurity. Thankfully, this fine, relatively recent recording (2019) is helping to bring the work back into the well-deserved spotlight.

The work sparkles from beginning to end with brilliant melodies, lush harmonies (met with equally lush orchestration), and a good deal of verve. It is a work steeped in equal measure in the West African rhythms so dear to Dawson's heart and in the type of orchestral Americana one might hear in a Copland score. This month's clip, an excerpt from the first movement, has a charming lilt which gives way to a pair of brass stretti, somewhat reminiscent of Vaughan Williams's "Dona nobis pacem," except that the Dawson is a much better piece.