Morton Gould: Spirituals for Orchestra (1941) Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati Recorded February 5-7, 1953, in Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis. First issued as Mercury MG-50016, coupled with Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess - A Symphonic Picture" (arr. by Robert Russell Bennett). Reissued in the 1960s as Mercury Wing MGW-14034, coupled with Bloch's Concerto Grosso No. 1, played by the Chicago Symphony under Rafael Kubelik. The movements of "Spirituals" are as follows: 1. Proclamation 2. Sermon (at 5:00) 3. A Little Bit of Sin (at 8:20) 4. Protest (at 10:25) 5. Jubilee (at 13:55) The following paragraph is extracted from the liner note for MGW-14034: "If Bloch's approach is to synthesize the exotic elements in his work with the great classic traditions of Western music, Morton Gould's method in his 'Spirituals' is more direct. His way is to mirror the American Negro in his moods of passion and humor by bringing to bear a fabulous technique of orchestrations and musical dramaturgy - all knit into a tight symphonic structure. Its title implies an idiom founded on vocal style - which means in this instance employment of a stylized 'folk dialect' and the use of the string section of the orchestra as a separate 'choir' in contrast to the rest of the instrumental body. 'Proclamation,' the first movement, is tempestuously dramatic; 'Sermon,' scored for violins, violas and celli only, is tenderly naive; 'A Little Bit of Sin' is slyly cynical - a wedding of Harlem and the cotton plantation, even to the near-quotation of 'Shortnin' Bread'. 'Protest' is a lurid, immensely powerful counterpart of a whole literature that has come into being around the question of mob violence; 'Jubilee' is a frenetic evocation of the Negro in festive vein, which begins as a hoedown, works through a boogie-woogie episode and culminates in an overwhelming climax based on a tune in camp meeting idiom." To download a higher-quality audio file of this recording, please visit my blog, The Shellackophile - http://shellackophile.blogspot.com - where this and many other vintage recordings may be downloaded.