George Walker: Five Sinfonias

Late in life, George Walker lamented how winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996 did not result in an avalanche of commissions or orchestral performances. No major orchestra contacted him about performing the winning piece, his orchestral song cycle Lilacs, even as he made history as the first African American recipient of the prize. Five years after Walker’s death at the age of 96, however, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., led by music director Gianandrea Noseda, has issued a cycle of Walker’s five sinfonias, recorded in concert at the Kennedy Center in 2022 and early 2023. His time has come. Composed between 1984 and 2016, the sinfonias chart the evolution of Walker’s late style with its mosaic of cultural touchstones. “As a composer, he has a very individual voice,” says Noseda. “Of course, you can hear some reminiscences or echoes of Bartók and Stravinsky, but he has a very personal voice, and the fact that he was African American didn’t make his life easy in terms of breaking through the wall in classical music.” While the Sinfonia No. 1 sets the pace with a stark and turbulent atmosphere, later sinfonias add signposts like the jazzy walking bassline and guitar textures of No. 2 and snippets of Black spirituals in No. 4 (“Strands”). The Sinfonia No. 5, “Visions”, is a searing response to a 2015 mass shooting by a white supremacist who killed nine African American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. The piece incorporates several brief spoken texts, including poetic reflections on the transatlantic slave trade. Noseda says the murders shook Walker, in part because of his own battles with institutional racism and prejudice. “It was not revenge, but just to say, ‘I had difficulties establishing myself as a leading composer, probably because of the colour of my skin’,” Noseda says. “And that’s why at the end of his work, he was not ashamed to use the words.” The Italian conductor approached Walker’s sinfonias following a recommendation from fellow conductor Simon Rattle, and he was especially pleased to champion a Washington native. In concert, Noseda paired the sinfonias with select Beethoven symphonies, a juxtaposition that brought out shared traits: urgency, volatility, drama. “I couldn’t expect such a good reception,” Noseda said of the audience response. “That was something that told me it’s not as difficult as I thought.” Ultimately, Walker’s music thrives on careful preparation, Noseda adds. “You really need the time to spend the time to rehearse. But when it’s well-rehearsed, the music really speaks to the heart.”