“The Philadelphia Orchestra has begun releasing recordings of music composed by Florence Price,” writes Peter Crimmins in Friday’s (10/1) WHYY radio (Philadelphia). “During her lifetime Price found it difficult to get the attention of conductors and orchestras, once writing that her two ‘handicaps’ were her gender and her race…. In the last several years Price has been having a revival due in part to newly discovered manuscripts. Many orchestras have begun performing her work in concert…. The Philadelphia Orchestra plans to release all four symphonies written by Price on the Deutsche Grammophon label. So far they have released two of them, Symphonies One and Three, as digital downloads…. Michelle Cann, a concert pianist and faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music, has been a champion of composer Florence Price since she discovered her music five years ago.… Cann believes high-quality recordings … will not only repair the historic neglect of Price, but could lead to the popular discovery of other overlooked artists. ‘If someone like Florence Price—who no one was paying any attention to and now people are falling in love with her … could be lost for that long, who else might be lost?’ she said.”
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